Mask "gu" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Guro · ID: 3033928

Description

wood, partly shiny brown patina, pigment remains, decorating nail, oval form with delicate facial features, framed by a jagged beard, a standing rooster on top, pierced around the rim, fissures, slight traces of abrasion, on metal base;
“gu” is always presented as a young woman, who is considered to be zambles wife. During the masquerade she appears after the two zoomorphic masks “zaule” and “zamble”, accompanied by flutes, moving slowly and charming, singing in honour of “zamble”. The mask ensemble appears at funeral ceremonies and on various festivities, they are assigned to resolve disputes and to search for witches.

The object Mask “gu” with the object ID 3033928 was part of the auction 71st tribal art auction on November 24, 2012. The object with the lot number 180 achieved a sales price of EUR 10,000 with an asking price of EUR 4,000.

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

Fischer, Eberhard, Guro, Masks, München, Berlin, London, New York 2008, p. 413, ill. 447