Face mask "karan-wemba" of the "wango" society · Burkina Faso, Mossi · ID: 3046184
sold
EUR 8,000
Provenance
Ilia Malichin, Baden-Baden, GermanyChristie’s Paris, 11 December 2014, Lot 133
Lucien van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium
Size
H: 98 cm
H: 38.6 inch
Description
wood, pigments, mass, original repairs (chin), base
This mask was danced at the funerals of highly esteemed women. The mask honors a woman whose great age, wisdom, and experience elevated her to the rank of a living ancestress, an ideal intermediary between the living and the spirits of the family’s ancestors.
The appearance of the mask should not only honour her, but also the female progenitor and founder of the clan, who is embodied by the female figure on top of the mask.
Expertise
Marc Ghysels, 27 Juillet 2011, Brussel, Belgium (Tomodensitometric study with X-ray scanner)
Comparing literature
Roy, Christopher D., Land of the flying masks, München 2007, ill. 122 ff
Publications
AHDRC: 0122455