Anthropomorphic face mask "kpan" · Côte d'Ivoire, Baule · ID: 3053625
Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, Germany, 8 May 1982, lot 46
Alexander Kubetz, Munich, Germany
Description
heavy wood, pigments,
“Kpan” masks are part of the “goli” masquerade, a day-long spectacle that normally involves the whole village. “Goli” can be performed both as an entertainment and for the funerals of important men.
Four pairs of masks appear, two by two, in a fixed order: first a pair of disc-faced masks “kple kple”, next a pair of animal helmet masks “goli glen”, third a pair of horned face masks “kpan pre”, and finally two human-faced masks with crested hairdos “kpan”, embodying the ideal woman. “Kpan” (“the older woman”) is considered the wife of “goli glin” (“the older man”).
Publications
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Afrikanische Kunst in Deutschen Privatsammlungen, München 1973, p. 111, ill. 144; Passauer Kreis e. V. (Hg.), Mangana, Passau 1994, p. 55
AHDRC: 0061004
Exhibition
Manganga, Afrikanische Kunst aus ostbayerischen Privatsammlungen, Passau 1994