Mask "geh-naw" of the "chu-den-zo" society · Liberia, Bassa · ID: 3051502
sold
EUR 700
Provenance
Ralf Lüders, Stuttgart, GermanyKetterer, Munich, 12 December 1987, lot 59
Folkhart Neidigk, Stuttgart, Germany
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 11 November 2017, Lot 183
Size
H: 22 cm
H: 8.7 inch
Description
wood, pigment, metal, original repair, insect caused damage
These masks only became known in 1969, when they first appeared on the European and American art market.
“Geh-naw” was not worn in front of the face, but was fixed to a plaited frame, worn on the forehead. The dancers presented an impressive picture. They wore luxuriant grass fiber skirts, upper body and head were hidden under several layers of fabric.
Publications
Dorsinville R., Meneghini M., The Bassa Mask a stranger in the house, in: Ethnologische Zeitschrift Zürich, 1, Bern, 1973, p. 38, ill. 33AHDRC: 0129623