Mask "dyodyomini"

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Description

light brown wood, partly encrusted patina, kaolin, black paint, of slender elongated form with deepened rectangular eyes, a long horn-like projection emerging from the forehead, crowned by a sitting female figure, pierced around the rim, dam., missing parts through insect caused damage, rep. (leather strips), cracks, paint rubbed off, base;
this hornbill mask is also named “picoreur” which is the french translation of the word hornbill. The carvers of Dogon masks wore their own masks during ritual performances. The costume consisted of fibers covering nearly the whole body. The mask should catch and control the vital force, which could become dangerous when being allowed to roam around.

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Comparing literature

Imperato, Pascal James, Dogon cliff dwellers, New York o. J., p. 34, ill. 3 Bilot, Alain, Masques du pays Dogon, Paris 2001, p. 125

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Publications

Gallery DeRoche, San Francisco, 1995, Absentee Auction, lot 3; van de Velde, Lucien & Joanna Teunen, Traditional Art from the West African Savanna, Antwerp 2010

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