Horned mask "kpan pre", female type ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Baule · ID: 3035328

Description

wood, the facial plane dyed in black, red and white paint (darkened), delicate carved regular facial features, framed by zigzag-beard and chin beard, slightly dam., paint rubbed off, fine fissure on the forehead, crack backside at the lower rim, minor missing part (top of the head), metal base;
belonging to the family of the “kple-kple” masks which perform in honour of the buffalo god “goli”. Four pairs of masks appear, two by two, in a fixed order: first a pair of disc-faced masks (called “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 with crested hairdos “kpan”. Within each pair, the masks and costumes are nearly identical, but the masks of the “kple kple” and “kpan pre” pairs are distinguished by color: the male mask is painted red, the female black.

The object Horned mask “kpan pre”, female type with the object ID 3035328 was part of the auction 74th tribal art auction on September 7, 2013. The object with the lot number 144 achieved a sales price of EUR 4,000 with an asking price of EUR 3,000.

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Comparing literature

Vogel, Susan Mullin, Baule - African Art - Western Eyes, New York 1997, p. 175