Anthropomorphic face mask "gu" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Guro · ID: 3048905

Description

wood, pigments, rest., base

“Gu’s” even face is crowned by fine horns that are almost closed to form an oval.

For despite her human-like appearance, “gu” is considered a creature of the forest. It is quite possible that the addition of horns to the beautiful female face was intended to emphasize the non-village, forest-bound, and therefore “sacred” aspect of “gu”.

The object Anthropomorphic face mask “gu” with the object ID 3048905 was last part of the auction 98th Auction at March 26, 2022 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 180 achieved a sales price of EUR 2,000.

You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.

Comparing literature

Fischer, Eberhard, "Guro", Munich, Berlin, London, New York 2008, p. 223