Mask "gu" · Côte d'Ivoire, Baule · ID: 3040177
Description
wood, polychrome paint, shiny patina, small oval face with pointed mouth, accentuated by red paint, provided with ram horn coiffure, rep. (breakage left horn tip), small missing parts, slight traces of abrasion, base;
“gu” is always carved according to the image of “a beautiful woman” - “uanya iri nya”. Although she is always danced by men. Together with “zauli” - a grotesque animal mask with long horns - and “zamble” whose face reminds of a leopard or a crocodile - “gu” forms one mask family. “Gu” 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 object Mask “gu” with the object ID 3040177 was last part of the auction 82nd Tribal Art Auction at February 27, 2016 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 312 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,000.
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Comparing literature
Fischer, Eberhard & Lorenz Homberger, Die Kunst der Guro, Elfenbeinküste, Zürich 1985, p. 169, ill. 67