Mask "kpan pre" · Côte d'Ivoire, Baule · ID: 3032631
Richard Rüegg, Zurich, Switzerland
Description
wood, dark brown patina, white pigment, the facial plane dyed in reddish brown, carved with regular facial features, framed by a flat zigzag-beard, crowned by a massive pair of horns, slightly dam. (nose, mouth), fine cracks;
belonging to the family of the “kple-kple” masks which perform to honour the buffalo god “goli”. Four pairs of masks appear, two by two, in a fixed order: first a pair of disc-faced masks (usually called “kple kple”), next a pair of animal helmet masks “goli glen”, third a pair of horned face masks “kpan pre”, and finally two human-faced masks with crested hairdos “kpan”. Within each pair, the masks and costumes are nearly identical, but the masks of the “kple kple” and “kpan pre” pairs are distinguished by color: the male mask is painted red, the female black.
The object Mask “kpan pre” with the object ID 3032631 was last part of the auction 69th tribal art auction at June 2, 2012 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 182.
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Comparing literature
Vogel, Susan Mullin, Baule - African Art - Western Eyes, New York 1997, p. 175