Mask ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Bété · ID: 3034760

Description

wood, dark brown patina, decorating nails, narrow slit eyes with tear sacs, lattice-like teeth, a beard made from plant fibre and red wool, pierced around the rim, small missing parts, slight traces of abrasion, socle;
the most famous Bete masks are those which look like a medieval helmet, with the tusks crossing the face from one side to the other and thus forming a sort of visor (copied from the Ngere masks). Lesser used are masks which combine stylistic elements of the Dan, like the forehead ridge, or metal teeth with characteristics of the other surrounding ethnical groups, as is the case with present mask.

The object Mask with the object ID 3034760 was last part of the auction 73rd tribal art auction at May 25, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 175 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,500.

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.

Comparing literature

Celenko, Theodore, A treasury of African Art from the Harrison Eiteljorg Collection, Bloomington 1983, p. 76