A iron sculpture - Vere - Nigeria (No reserve price)
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A iron sculpture titled A iron sculpture, in wrought iron with a reddish-brown patina, 18 cm high, 37 cm deep, weighing 820 g, sold with stand, attributed to the Vere from Jimeta Region in Adamawa State, Nigeria, and authenticated as Original/official.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
Vere Bird Sculpture – Abstract Iron Sculpture with an Elongated Body
Origin: Jimeta Region, Adamawa State, Northeast Nigeria
Cultural Attribution: Vere (Verre), attributed
Material: Wrought iron, reddish-brown oxidation patina, incl stand
Dating: Not certain
Provenance: Jimeta Region, Nigeria, according to the original provenance information
Description
This exceptionally slender bird sculpture, made of wrought iron, is characterized by a consistently linear design that reduces the animal's body to a few essential elements. The horizontally oriented figure has an elongated, narrow torso that extends forward into an elegantly curved neck. This transitions into a small, highly stylized head, the upper end of which is formed by an upright, fan-shaped crest. Two narrow, downward-pointing iron projections can be interpreted as a forked beak or as abstracted components of the head. The body consists of several parallel, partially interconnected strands of iron, whose slight irregularities reveal the handcrafted nature of the work. The horizontal movement continues backward in two flat, forged, tapered extensions that form a forked tail. Particularly noteworthy are the two long, curved legs, which extend downward from the body at almost right angles and end in short, flattened feet. This gives the figure the appearance of a long-legged wading bird, whose anatomical features have been greatly simplified in favor of a balanced, symbolic silhouette. The entire surface has a differentiated reddish-brown to dark brown oxidation layer, which in places exhibits a rough, granular texture. The omission of naturalistic details such as eyes, plumage, or differentiated wings underscores the focus on the fundamental lines of the bird's body. The sculpture is mounted on a modern black display base.
Art Historical Perspective
The Vere, also known as Verre, are an ethnic group of the eastern Adamawa region, whose historical cultural landscapes extend across present-day northeastern Nigeria and adjacent regions of Cameroon. Their settlements are primarily located in the vicinity of the Atlantika Mountains and the southern Adamawa region. The geographical origin designation Jimeta refers to a significant location in present-day Adamawa State, but does not allow for a definitive determination of the original place of manufacture. The artistic traditions of the Vere are part of the broader context of the material cultures of the upper Benue region, which is characterized by a remarkable diversity of figurative wood sculpture, ceramics, and forged metal objects. Iron held particular significance in numerous societies of this region, as its production required specialized technical knowledge, artisanal expertise, and mastery of complex forming processes. Blacksmithing enabled the production of tools and weapons, but also of objects whose significance extended beyond their immediate practical use. The present bird sculpture can be formally categorized within this broader context. Its design is based on a pronounced reduction of the animal's form to a system of curved and straight iron shapes. Unlike a sculpture developed from a solid block of material, the physicality here arises from the connection of individual forged elements. The spaces between the neck, body, and legs become essential components of the composition. A precise typological classification within the documented Vere art is not possible based on the photograph. In particular, the question of whether it is an independent figurative object type or a component of an originally larger construction remains open.
Symbolism and Iconography
The depiction of a bird opens up various symbolic interpretations within African pictorial traditions. Due to their ability to move between earth and sky, birds can be associated with notions of transition, mobility, and the connection between different spatial or spiritual realms. However, such meanings vary across cultures and should not be applied to a single object without corresponding ethnographic evidence. The sculpture in question possesses several characteristic features that suggest a long-legged bird with a striking head ornamentation. The erect crest, the curved neck, and the long legs could be reminiscent of certain species of savannah or water birds. A definitive zoological identification is not possible due to the highly abstract design. The tension between the forward-pointing, downward-pointing head and the tail reaching far back is particularly striking. This opposing movement creates the impression of an animal attentively observing its surroundings or in a calm, striding posture. The two narrow projections on the head could represent a forked beak, wattles, or other stylized anatomical features. The fan-like crest on the head also allows for various interpretations. It is conceivable that the sculpture was not intended to depict a specific bird species naturalistically, but rather to highlight essential characteristics of a symbolically significant animal. However, without documented cultural context, such an interpretation remains hypothetical.
Ritual Function and Cultural Context
Forged iron objects could fulfill practical, social, and religious functions in various societies of the Adamawa and Benue regions. Their meaning derived not only from the material itself, but also from their specific use, their history of manufacture, and the respective local beliefs. A ceremonial or symbolic use is conceivable for the present bird sculpture, but has not been proven. The unusually elongated body shape and the carefully crafted silhouette suggest that the object was primarily conceived as a figurative representation. Whether it was originally freestanding, attached to another object, or used as part of a larger ensemble cannot be determined with certainty. The flattened ends of the legs could indicate earlier attachment, but it is equally possible that they served only for stabilization. In various West and Central African traditions, animal representations can appear as emblems of social affiliation, as symbols of certain characteristics, or as components of religious artifacts. However, such a function cannot be definitively proven for the Vere sculpture. The pronounced oxidation patina also does not allow for reliable conclusions regarding ritual treatment or the object's age. It initially only documents changes to the metal surface that could have resulted from humidity, storage conditions, and long-term material processes. A more precise determination of its function would require reliable ethnographic comparison objects and additional information on its provenance.
Art Historical Assessment
The exceptional aesthetic quality of this bird sculpture lies in the extraordinary economy of its sculptural means. With just a few forged iron strands, the artist succeeds in creating a distinctive animal form whose effect arises almost entirely from the lines. The elongated body forms a calm horizontal axis, rhythmically articulated by the curved neck and the two vertically downward-pointing legs. The tapered tail extensions lengthen the silhouette and lend it a remarkable lightness. The design of the head is particularly striking, its erect crest creating a bold accent and drawing attention to the front of the composition. The sculpture thus appears both static and dynamic: while the clear horizontal orientation establishes a calm basic structure, the curved lines of the neck and legs convey a subtle dynamism. The irregularly oxidized surface underscores the handcrafted nature of the material and gives the figure an independent material presence. The combination of figurative recognizability and far-reaching abstraction is particularly noteworthy from an art historical perspective. The bird's form is not created by reproducing anatomical details, but rather by the precise organization of a few characteristic lines and proportions. Subject to cultural attribution, the work can be considered an impressive example of the creative possibilities of wrought iron in the wider Adamawa cultural sphere. Its particular significance lies in the consistent transformation of a natural animal form into a spatially open, almost calligraphic iron sculpture.
Literature
Marla C. Berns, Richard Fardon, and Sidney Littlefield Kasfir (eds.): Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum at UCLA, 2011.
For a more precise cultural and functional classification, supplementary ethnographic studies on metalworking and figurative art of the Vere people in the Nigerian-Cameroonian border region are needed. A reliable literature reference directly related to this specific type of bird sculpture is currently unavailable.
Copyright and Scientific Documentation
Some of the information and photographs have been generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and are based on published sources in ethnography, archaeology, and art history. Original texts and photographs may be protected by copyright. All rights held by the respective rights holders are reserved.
Inv. No. MAZ31941
Informant: Amadou Dogo
Seller's Story
Wolfgang Jaenicke’s engagement with African art did not begin in the field or the marketplace but in a quieter, more inward space—among papers, books, and objects that belonged to his father. The archive on Germany’s former colonies was not arranged to tell a single story; it suggested many. It invited scrutiny rather than reverence, and it taught Jaenicke early on that objects are never mute. They carry time inside them—fracture and continuity held in the same form—and they ask to be read as carefully as texts.
For more than a quarter century, Jaenicke has worked as a collector, dealer, and intermediary, though none of these terms quite captures the shape of his practice. What used to be grouped, too casually, under the heading of “Tribal Art” has never appeared to him as a sealed or historical category. It is, instead, a set of living traditions, constantly negotiating the present. His academic training—in ethnology, art history, and comparative law—provided a grammar. The language itself he learned elsewhere. In Mali, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Ghana, knowledge emerged slowly, through repeated encounters that hardened into relationships, and through trust built not all at once but over years.
Mali became the gravitational center of this experience. Between 2002 and 2012, Jaenicke lived and worked in Bamako and Ségou, where he ran Tribalartforum, a gallery overlooking the Niger River. The space resisted easy chronology. Sculptures and ceramics shared the room with photography, and works by Malick Sidibé—images of Malian youth in the 1970s, self-assured and exuberant—hung alongside older ritual forms. The effect was not nostalgic but clarifying: past and present did not cancel each other out; they sharpened one another.
The war of 2012 ended this chapter abruptly, as wars tend to do. But it did not dissolve the work. Together with Aguibou Kamaté, Jaenicke regrouped in Lomé, closer to the places where many of the objects originated and to the routes they continue to travel. Since 2018, Berlin has become another point on this map. Galerie Wolfgang Jaenicke now operates opposite Charlottenburg Palace, supported by a small team of specialists. Its focus rests, in particular, on West African bronzes and terracottas—materials shaped by earth and fire, and by forms of memory that resist easy translation.
What distinguishes Jaenicke’s practice is not only its geographical range but its internal tension. Fieldwork is paired with provenance research; commerce is treated as inseparable from responsibility. In collaboration with museums and scholarly initiatives, circulation is framed not as extraction but as an ethical process that remains unfinished. The aim is not to remove objects from the world and seal them off, but to keep them readable within it—to allow them to continue speaking, even as the conditions of their speech change.
------------
Galerie Wolfgang Jaenicke is a Berlin-based gallery specializing in West African sculpture, bronzes, terracottas, masks, and contemporary African art. It is directed by Wolfgang Jaenicke, whose work combines collecting, dealing, provenance research, fieldwork, and archival documentation.
According to the gallery’s own account, Jaenicke studied ethnology, art history, and comparative law and has worked in the field of African art for more than twenty-five years. His activities developed through long-term engagement in countries including Mali, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Togo. Rather than presenting African art as a closed historical category, he describes it as a continuing cultural tradition shaped by living communities and changing historical contexts.
A particularly important phase of his career was in Mali, where he lived and worked between roughly 2002 and 2012 in Bamako and Ségou. There he operated Tribalartforum, a gallery that combined historical African sculpture with contemporary African photography, including works by Malick Sidibé. The political and military crisis in Mali in 2012 led to the closure of this phase of activity.
Later, together with Aguibou Kamaté, Jaenicke continued working from Lomé, Togo, before establishing a gallery presence in Berlin near Charlottenburg Palace. The gallery places particular emphasis on West African bronzes, terracottas, Benin and Ife-related works, Nok sculpture, Dogon art, Baule sculpture, Senufo objects, and Yoruba material.
One distinctive aspect of Jaenicke’s public position is his repeated emphasis on provenance transparency and restitution debates. On several published object records, the gallery explicitly discusses issues surrounding export documentation, UNESCO conventions, ownership histories, and communication with scholars and restitution researchers. These statements reflect broader contemporary debates about the circulation of African cultural heritage, legality, collecting history, and museum acquisition practices.
The gallery maintains extensive online archives and catalogues documenting hundreds of African objects, including Benin and Ife bronzes, Nok terracottas, Dogon sculptures, Baule figures, Fon objects, Moba figures, and other West African material.
For researchers interested in the history of the African art trade, Jaenicke represents a later generation of dealers compared with figures such as John J. Klejman. Whereas Klejman belonged to the postwar New York market of the 1950s–1970s, Jaenicke’s work has been shaped by contemporary concerns with field documentation, provenance research, restitution discussions, digital archives, and direct engagement with West African networks and artists.
This text is based on AI Information
Vere Bird Sculpture – Abstract Iron Sculpture with an Elongated Body
Origin: Jimeta Region, Adamawa State, Northeast Nigeria
Cultural Attribution: Vere (Verre), attributed
Material: Wrought iron, reddish-brown oxidation patina, incl stand
Dating: Not certain
Provenance: Jimeta Region, Nigeria, according to the original provenance information
Description
This exceptionally slender bird sculpture, made of wrought iron, is characterized by a consistently linear design that reduces the animal's body to a few essential elements. The horizontally oriented figure has an elongated, narrow torso that extends forward into an elegantly curved neck. This transitions into a small, highly stylized head, the upper end of which is formed by an upright, fan-shaped crest. Two narrow, downward-pointing iron projections can be interpreted as a forked beak or as abstracted components of the head. The body consists of several parallel, partially interconnected strands of iron, whose slight irregularities reveal the handcrafted nature of the work. The horizontal movement continues backward in two flat, forged, tapered extensions that form a forked tail. Particularly noteworthy are the two long, curved legs, which extend downward from the body at almost right angles and end in short, flattened feet. This gives the figure the appearance of a long-legged wading bird, whose anatomical features have been greatly simplified in favor of a balanced, symbolic silhouette. The entire surface has a differentiated reddish-brown to dark brown oxidation layer, which in places exhibits a rough, granular texture. The omission of naturalistic details such as eyes, plumage, or differentiated wings underscores the focus on the fundamental lines of the bird's body. The sculpture is mounted on a modern black display base.
Art Historical Perspective
The Vere, also known as Verre, are an ethnic group of the eastern Adamawa region, whose historical cultural landscapes extend across present-day northeastern Nigeria and adjacent regions of Cameroon. Their settlements are primarily located in the vicinity of the Atlantika Mountains and the southern Adamawa region. The geographical origin designation Jimeta refers to a significant location in present-day Adamawa State, but does not allow for a definitive determination of the original place of manufacture. The artistic traditions of the Vere are part of the broader context of the material cultures of the upper Benue region, which is characterized by a remarkable diversity of figurative wood sculpture, ceramics, and forged metal objects. Iron held particular significance in numerous societies of this region, as its production required specialized technical knowledge, artisanal expertise, and mastery of complex forming processes. Blacksmithing enabled the production of tools and weapons, but also of objects whose significance extended beyond their immediate practical use. The present bird sculpture can be formally categorized within this broader context. Its design is based on a pronounced reduction of the animal's form to a system of curved and straight iron shapes. Unlike a sculpture developed from a solid block of material, the physicality here arises from the connection of individual forged elements. The spaces between the neck, body, and legs become essential components of the composition. A precise typological classification within the documented Vere art is not possible based on the photograph. In particular, the question of whether it is an independent figurative object type or a component of an originally larger construction remains open.
Symbolism and Iconography
The depiction of a bird opens up various symbolic interpretations within African pictorial traditions. Due to their ability to move between earth and sky, birds can be associated with notions of transition, mobility, and the connection between different spatial or spiritual realms. However, such meanings vary across cultures and should not be applied to a single object without corresponding ethnographic evidence. The sculpture in question possesses several characteristic features that suggest a long-legged bird with a striking head ornamentation. The erect crest, the curved neck, and the long legs could be reminiscent of certain species of savannah or water birds. A definitive zoological identification is not possible due to the highly abstract design. The tension between the forward-pointing, downward-pointing head and the tail reaching far back is particularly striking. This opposing movement creates the impression of an animal attentively observing its surroundings or in a calm, striding posture. The two narrow projections on the head could represent a forked beak, wattles, or other stylized anatomical features. The fan-like crest on the head also allows for various interpretations. It is conceivable that the sculpture was not intended to depict a specific bird species naturalistically, but rather to highlight essential characteristics of a symbolically significant animal. However, without documented cultural context, such an interpretation remains hypothetical.
Ritual Function and Cultural Context
Forged iron objects could fulfill practical, social, and religious functions in various societies of the Adamawa and Benue regions. Their meaning derived not only from the material itself, but also from their specific use, their history of manufacture, and the respective local beliefs. A ceremonial or symbolic use is conceivable for the present bird sculpture, but has not been proven. The unusually elongated body shape and the carefully crafted silhouette suggest that the object was primarily conceived as a figurative representation. Whether it was originally freestanding, attached to another object, or used as part of a larger ensemble cannot be determined with certainty. The flattened ends of the legs could indicate earlier attachment, but it is equally possible that they served only for stabilization. In various West and Central African traditions, animal representations can appear as emblems of social affiliation, as symbols of certain characteristics, or as components of religious artifacts. However, such a function cannot be definitively proven for the Vere sculpture. The pronounced oxidation patina also does not allow for reliable conclusions regarding ritual treatment or the object's age. It initially only documents changes to the metal surface that could have resulted from humidity, storage conditions, and long-term material processes. A more precise determination of its function would require reliable ethnographic comparison objects and additional information on its provenance.
Art Historical Assessment
The exceptional aesthetic quality of this bird sculpture lies in the extraordinary economy of its sculptural means. With just a few forged iron strands, the artist succeeds in creating a distinctive animal form whose effect arises almost entirely from the lines. The elongated body forms a calm horizontal axis, rhythmically articulated by the curved neck and the two vertically downward-pointing legs. The tapered tail extensions lengthen the silhouette and lend it a remarkable lightness. The design of the head is particularly striking, its erect crest creating a bold accent and drawing attention to the front of the composition. The sculpture thus appears both static and dynamic: while the clear horizontal orientation establishes a calm basic structure, the curved lines of the neck and legs convey a subtle dynamism. The irregularly oxidized surface underscores the handcrafted nature of the material and gives the figure an independent material presence. The combination of figurative recognizability and far-reaching abstraction is particularly noteworthy from an art historical perspective. The bird's form is not created by reproducing anatomical details, but rather by the precise organization of a few characteristic lines and proportions. Subject to cultural attribution, the work can be considered an impressive example of the creative possibilities of wrought iron in the wider Adamawa cultural sphere. Its particular significance lies in the consistent transformation of a natural animal form into a spatially open, almost calligraphic iron sculpture.
Literature
Marla C. Berns, Richard Fardon, and Sidney Littlefield Kasfir (eds.): Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum at UCLA, 2011.
For a more precise cultural and functional classification, supplementary ethnographic studies on metalworking and figurative art of the Vere people in the Nigerian-Cameroonian border region are needed. A reliable literature reference directly related to this specific type of bird sculpture is currently unavailable.
Copyright and Scientific Documentation
Some of the information and photographs have been generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and are based on published sources in ethnography, archaeology, and art history. Original texts and photographs may be protected by copyright. All rights held by the respective rights holders are reserved.
Inv. No. MAZ31941
Informant: Amadou Dogo
Seller's Story
Wolfgang Jaenicke’s engagement with African art did not begin in the field or the marketplace but in a quieter, more inward space—among papers, books, and objects that belonged to his father. The archive on Germany’s former colonies was not arranged to tell a single story; it suggested many. It invited scrutiny rather than reverence, and it taught Jaenicke early on that objects are never mute. They carry time inside them—fracture and continuity held in the same form—and they ask to be read as carefully as texts.
For more than a quarter century, Jaenicke has worked as a collector, dealer, and intermediary, though none of these terms quite captures the shape of his practice. What used to be grouped, too casually, under the heading of “Tribal Art” has never appeared to him as a sealed or historical category. It is, instead, a set of living traditions, constantly negotiating the present. His academic training—in ethnology, art history, and comparative law—provided a grammar. The language itself he learned elsewhere. In Mali, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Ghana, knowledge emerged slowly, through repeated encounters that hardened into relationships, and through trust built not all at once but over years.
Mali became the gravitational center of this experience. Between 2002 and 2012, Jaenicke lived and worked in Bamako and Ségou, where he ran Tribalartforum, a gallery overlooking the Niger River. The space resisted easy chronology. Sculptures and ceramics shared the room with photography, and works by Malick Sidibé—images of Malian youth in the 1970s, self-assured and exuberant—hung alongside older ritual forms. The effect was not nostalgic but clarifying: past and present did not cancel each other out; they sharpened one another.
The war of 2012 ended this chapter abruptly, as wars tend to do. But it did not dissolve the work. Together with Aguibou Kamaté, Jaenicke regrouped in Lomé, closer to the places where many of the objects originated and to the routes they continue to travel. Since 2018, Berlin has become another point on this map. Galerie Wolfgang Jaenicke now operates opposite Charlottenburg Palace, supported by a small team of specialists. Its focus rests, in particular, on West African bronzes and terracottas—materials shaped by earth and fire, and by forms of memory that resist easy translation.
What distinguishes Jaenicke’s practice is not only its geographical range but its internal tension. Fieldwork is paired with provenance research; commerce is treated as inseparable from responsibility. In collaboration with museums and scholarly initiatives, circulation is framed not as extraction but as an ethical process that remains unfinished. The aim is not to remove objects from the world and seal them off, but to keep them readable within it—to allow them to continue speaking, even as the conditions of their speech change.
------------
Galerie Wolfgang Jaenicke is a Berlin-based gallery specializing in West African sculpture, bronzes, terracottas, masks, and contemporary African art. It is directed by Wolfgang Jaenicke, whose work combines collecting, dealing, provenance research, fieldwork, and archival documentation.
According to the gallery’s own account, Jaenicke studied ethnology, art history, and comparative law and has worked in the field of African art for more than twenty-five years. His activities developed through long-term engagement in countries including Mali, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Togo. Rather than presenting African art as a closed historical category, he describes it as a continuing cultural tradition shaped by living communities and changing historical contexts.
A particularly important phase of his career was in Mali, where he lived and worked between roughly 2002 and 2012 in Bamako and Ségou. There he operated Tribalartforum, a gallery that combined historical African sculpture with contemporary African photography, including works by Malick Sidibé. The political and military crisis in Mali in 2012 led to the closure of this phase of activity.
Later, together with Aguibou Kamaté, Jaenicke continued working from Lomé, Togo, before establishing a gallery presence in Berlin near Charlottenburg Palace. The gallery places particular emphasis on West African bronzes, terracottas, Benin and Ife-related works, Nok sculpture, Dogon art, Baule sculpture, Senufo objects, and Yoruba material.
One distinctive aspect of Jaenicke’s public position is his repeated emphasis on provenance transparency and restitution debates. On several published object records, the gallery explicitly discusses issues surrounding export documentation, UNESCO conventions, ownership histories, and communication with scholars and restitution researchers. These statements reflect broader contemporary debates about the circulation of African cultural heritage, legality, collecting history, and museum acquisition practices.
The gallery maintains extensive online archives and catalogues documenting hundreds of African objects, including Benin and Ife bronzes, Nok terracottas, Dogon sculptures, Baule figures, Fon objects, Moba figures, and other West African material.
For researchers interested in the history of the African art trade, Jaenicke represents a later generation of dealers compared with figures such as John J. Klejman. Whereas Klejman belonged to the postwar New York market of the 1950s–1970s, Jaenicke’s work has been shaped by contemporary concerns with field documentation, provenance research, restitution discussions, digital archives, and direct engagement with West African networks and artists.
This text is based on AI Information
Details
Ethnic group/ culture
Vere
Country of Origin
Nigeria
Material
Black Iron
Sold with stand
Yes
Condition
Fair condition
Title of artwork
A iron sculpture
Height
18 cm
Depth
37 cm
Weight
820 g
Authenticity
Original/official
Sold by
GermanyVerified
protop
Rechtliche Informationen des Verkäufers
- Unternehmen:
- Jaenicke Njoya GmbH
- Repräsentant:
- Wolfgang Jaenicke
- Adresse:
- Jaenicke Njoya GmbH
Klausenerplatz 7
14059 Berlin
GERMANY - Telefonnummer:
- +493033951033
- Email:
- w.jaenicke@jaenicke-njoya.com
- USt-IdNr.:
- DE241193499
AGB
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