Mask "deangle" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Dan · ID: 3033164

Description

light brown wood, partly encrusted blackish brown patina, abundant coiffure of plant fibre cord, in form of plaited strings covering the forehead and forming two lobes aside the temples, two drillings on the forehead, pierced around the rim, min. dam., traces of insect caused damage, on metal base;
“deangle” literally means a “joking and smiling” mask character. The name implies that a friendly and beautiful appearance is described, determined to entertain the people. The “dean” mask characters belong to the circumcision camps (“mbon”) of young boys and girls, which are always situated in the holy forest nearby the village.

The object Mask “deangle” with the object ID 3033164 was last part of the auction 70th tribal art auction at September 8, 2012 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 251 achieved a sales price of EUR 6,000.

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.

Comparing literature

Barbier, Jean Paul (ed.), Art of Côte d' Ivoire, Vol II, Genf 1993, p. 60