Mask "deangle" · Côte d'Ivoire, Dan · ID: 3033999
Wolfgang Nerlich, Munich, Germany
Description
wood, brown patina, bulging forehead with raised vertical middle ridge, horizontal deepened eye zone, round deepenings in the upperlip, pierced around the rim, min. dam., small missing parts, on base;
“deangle” literally means “joking, laughing” mask figure. The “dean” mask characters belong to the circumcision camps (“mbon”) of young boys and girls. They act as a mediator between the camp and the village.They are not accompanied by musicians and they are not singing and dancing, but moving gracefully and joking with the women, begging them to send plenty of food to the camp.
The object Mask “deangle” with the object ID 3033999 was part of the auction 71st tribal art auction on November 24, 2012. The object with the lot number 168 achieved a sales price of EUR 11,000 with an asking price of EUR 4,500.
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Comparing literature
Fischer, Eberhard, Himmelheber, Hans, Die Kunst der Dan, Zürich 1976, p. 49, ill. 11 Wastiau, Boris, Medusa, The African sculpture of Enchantment, Genf 2008, ill. 111