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Details
LOT 2378
African Wooden Ceremonial Crocodile Face Mask
BOBO TRIBE, MID-LATE 20TH CENTURY A.D.
13 in. (870 grams, face long: 33 cm).
A simplified crocodile head, painted red and black, rough shaped eyes and pegged teeth. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From Mali, West Africa.
From the estate of a West Sussex, UK, collector.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
Footnotes
The masks symbolize animals or spirits and are worn during ceremonies associated with new crops, initiations and funerals. Ones with an interior cavity too small for a human head are carried on the top corner of a rectangular, tent like costume.
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