Lost Civilisations and Broad Eyebrows: Tribal Art up for Auction

African art has been popular collectors' items in the West since the early 1900s – both for artists who sought inspiration from other cultures and for collectors in general. Right now, you have the opportunity to become the owner of original tribal art, when a great selection of objects from Africa and Oceania comes under the virtual hammer at our online auction on Thursday 11 April.

A Rediscovered Civilisation

The auction is this year's first major tribal art auction and includes a wide selection of masks, figures and other art objects. The highlights include three Bura stone sculptures that originate from the Bura civilization in Niger, which existed from around 200 to 1400 AD.

Today, our knowledge of the civilisation is still very limited. The area was first discovered in 1975, and the first excavations took place in 1983. A large number of the objects that have been found in the area are stone sculptures similar to the three lots up for auction. The sculptures, which often resemble masks, are believed to have been used as symbols of fertility in the Bura culture.

A Wooden Sculpture by the Master of Eyebrows

At the auction, you can also bid on a sculpture attributed to "The Master of the T-shaped brow". The person behind the pseudonym is unknown but was nevertheless very active as a wood carver during the first decade of the 20th century. Today, about a total of eight works by the African artist are known to exist, one of these is a wooden sculpture in traditional Mangbetu style, which is now up for auction here at Bruun Rasmussen. The sculpture is shaped like a head and is believed to have been a prestige object since the head's piled-up hairstyle was originally reserved for people with a high social status among the people of the Congolese Mangbetu culture.

Preview and Auction

The many objects of the auction come from Danish and Swedish private collections, which include former owners such as the Danish sculptor Robert Jacobsen. The individual objects can be seen at the preview at Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen. You can already bid on the auction, which ends on Thursday 11 April at 7pm.

View all the lots of the auction

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