Helmet mask "degele" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Senufo · ID: 3039619

Description

heavy wood, brown patina, vaulted calotte, crowned by an anthropomorphic head, min. dam., cracks, small missing parts, traces of abrasion;
probably a variation of the mask type “degele”, which became first known in 1939. It only appears in pairs and comes out for the “great funeral” (“kuumo”), an all-community festival to commemorate important elders who have died over a four or five-year period.

The object Helmet mask “degele” with the object ID 3039619 was last part of the auction 81st Tribal Art Auction at October 31, 2015 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 254 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.