Pipe - Chokwe - Angola

09
days
10
hours
17
minutes
49
seconds
Current bid
€ 200
Reserve price not met
Dimitri André
Expert
Selected by Dimitri André

Holds a postgraduate degree in African studies and 15 years experience in African art.

Estimate  € 850 - € 950
2 other people are watching this object
BEBidder 5071
€200
BEBidder 5071
€120

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Description from the seller

Beautiful Chokwe pipe carved with a Cihongo mask
Angola
Total length: 60 cm
Period: beginning of the 20th century (1920-30)
Provenance: e.g. Portuguese colonial collection, Edgar Vigario collection - Lisbon, Portugal, Paulo Akam collection (Portugal), private collection - Belgium

These pipes, carefully carved, were part of the prestige objects of peoples related to the Chokwe such as the Ovimbundu, Lwena, or the Songo. From the 1880s, they appear in the accounts and depictions by explorers, with chiefs using these pipes in this region of Central Africa, in Angola or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Chokwe chiefs (black-and-white photographs) became increasingly involved in trade with Europeans, eager for rubber, wax, and ivory, as well as African slaves for their colonies in the New World. Local chiefs who prospered through this trade frequently commissioned prestige objects from local artisans to display their wealth and power. This tobacco pipe is one of those objects.

A pipe with a "Cihongo" mask, carved by the same hand, was exhibited at Parcours des Mondes 2014 (last photograph).

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Beautiful Chokwe pipe carved with a Cihongo mask
Angola
Total length: 60 cm
Period: beginning of the 20th century (1920-30)
Provenance: e.g. Portuguese colonial collection, Edgar Vigario collection - Lisbon, Portugal, Paulo Akam collection (Portugal), private collection - Belgium

These pipes, carefully carved, were part of the prestige objects of peoples related to the Chokwe such as the Ovimbundu, Lwena, or the Songo. From the 1880s, they appear in the accounts and depictions by explorers, with chiefs using these pipes in this region of Central Africa, in Angola or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Chokwe chiefs (black-and-white photographs) became increasingly involved in trade with Europeans, eager for rubber, wax, and ivory, as well as African slaves for their colonies in the New World. Local chiefs who prospered through this trade frequently commissioned prestige objects from local artisans to display their wealth and power. This tobacco pipe is one of those objects.

A pipe with a "Cihongo" mask, carved by the same hand, was exhibited at Parcours des Mondes 2014 (last photograph).

Delivery guaranteed by Bpost

Details

Ethnic group/ culture
Chokwe
Country of Origin
Angola
Sold with stand
No
Condition
Excellent condition
Title of artwork
Pipe
Provenance
Private collection
BelgiumVerified
40
Objects sold
100%
Private

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