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Details
LOT 2397
African Wooden Ceremonial Face Mask
BAULE TRIBE, EARLY-MID 20TH CENTURY A.D.
15 1/2 in. (620 grams, 39.4 cm).
A carved mask with crested horns and decorated in tones of white, red and blue. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From Ivory Coast, West Africa.
From an old Derby, UK, collection.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
Footnotes
The Baule people is one of the largest ethnic groups in the Côte d'Ivoire. Wooden masks allow a closer contact with the supernatural world and correspond to several types of dances: the gba gba, the bonu amuen, the mblo and the goli. They never represent the ancestors and are always worn by men.
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