Anthropomorphic "tu bodu" mask from the "lo" group · Côte d'Ivoire, Yaure · ID: 3041727
Walter Schmidt, Würzburg/Innsbruck, Germany/Austria (1964/65)
Description
wood, blackish brown patina, oval face with delicate facial features, framed by jagged beard in openwork design, coiffure in bow-shaped contours, crowned by the horns of a bush cow, slightly dam., old missing part (tip of left ear), abrasion of paint, above all nose and mouth strongly abraded, base;
the most well-known masks of the Yaure depict a human face with animalic endorsement. They belong to the “je” or “lo” masks, which could take influence on the supernatural forces called “ju”, who are either able to cause harm to the people or secure their well-being. Especially a case of death requests the performance of the “tu bodu” masks in order to reestablish the social balance and to accompany the deceased into the world of the hereafter.
Publications
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Afrikanische Kunst in Deutschen Privatsammlungen, München 1973, p. 133, ill. 176; Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Afrikanische Kunst, München 1975, p. 101, Fig. 133AHDRC: 0060587