A Beautiful Antique African Tribal Carved Paddle-Spear Possibly of the Itsekiri People Or Even Benin

One of a matched pair we acquired but we are selling separately. In carved native wood with geometric carving covering one paddle side, the other side is different . This is a dance paddle of the kind used in ceremonies by the Itsekiri people of the Niger delta. The river was at the centre of tribal society and economy – it provided food and transport for the communities who lived in the area. Canoes were an extremely important part of traditional society and so the paddle was an important symbol for prosperity. Local people relied on the river for their quality of life and believed in water spirits. This paddle is decorated with intricate carving and may have been used in ceremonial dances. Alternatively, it may have been made for trading with Europeans as ethnic objects became fashionable possessions. Although African, like Oceanic art it is often infused with ancestral spirits, as well as spirits of water, air and land. These spirits are contacted in ceremonies to ensure fertility, or invoke protection from famine, disease or enemies.

Sometimes these invocations serve extremely practical purposes. There was a ceremony in Papua New Guinea where ancestral spirits were activated in a carved wooden crocodile. Men carrying the crocodile were then led, like people holding a divining rod are led, to the home of a local murderer.
African and Oceanic art is not only made for decoration. It is made to be used as a tool in the culture. Cubist painters, and especially Surrealists, were moved by the power of Oceanic abstractions, as they were by traditional African art . This wonderful piece would make a stunning additional display of object d’art in any setting, albeit traditional or contemporary

Code: 17919