Horned mask "kpan pre" · Côte d'Ivoire, Baule · ID: 3053545
Sotheby’s, London, United Kingdom, 17 June 1991, lot 109
Roswitha von Bergmann, Düsseldorf, Germany
Neumeister, Munich, Germany, 11 November 2004, lot 308
Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, Munich, Germany
Neumeister, Munich, Germany, 15 October 2009, lot 1225
Philippe Ratton, Paris, France (2014)
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, Germany, 31 October 2015, lot 214
Arno Henseler, Munich, Germany
Description
wood, pigments, base
Works from the same workshop see AHDRC 0060403 and 0121784.
“Kpan” masks are part of the “goli” masquerade, a daylong performance that involves the entire village population and which displays four pairs of masks. They 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 (“kpan”). This popular ritual takes place during an important event such as the death of a notable or a major celebration. The “kpan” are the last to take part in the show, their appearance remaining exceptional: the ornamentation and colours are equally attributed to the two sexes, nothing making it possible to distinguish them clearly and their role remaining ambivalent.
Comparing literature
Vogel, Susan Mullin, Baule, African Art - Western Eyes, New York 1997, p. 175
Publications
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 345; Galerie Philippe Ratton, 49 sculptures de Côte d'Ivoire, p. 18
AHDRC: 0060657
Exhibition
Paris, Galerie Philippe Ratton, 49 sculptures de Côte d'Ivoire, June 2014