Helmet mask · Cameroon, Tikar/Bekom · ID: 3035254
sold
EUR 140
Size
H: 41,5 cm
H: 16.3 inch
Description
wood, blotched brown patina, accents with kaolin, characteristic Bekom features: big almond eyes, strong nose and nostrils, projecting mouth with revealed teeth, unusual detail: the eyelashes along the lower lid carved in flat relief, bonnet-shaped coiffure with central opening, slightly dam., minor missing parts (right alar wing and corner of the mouth, left ear, rim on the back), cracks, paint rubbed off;
such masks were used in annual agricultural fertility dances. They also appeared at receptions for important visitors and at funerary rites.
Comparing literature
Gebauer, Paul, Art of Cameroon, New York 1979, P 10