Mask "kpelie" · Côte d'Ivoire, Senufo · ID: 3032209
Hans Hess, Basel, Switzerland (1968)
Eduard Hess, Basel, Switzerland
Description
wood, blackish brown patina, crowned by curved horns, typical ornamental projections on both sides and at the chin, pierced around the rim, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion
used at remembrance ceremonies. In literature this mask type is called “kpelie”, which comes from the Senufo word for “jumping”. A generic term in later research is “kodal”. Nowadays the plug-like projections on both sides of the chin are simply looked upon as lobes, while the ornamental projections to the sides just have the optical effect to round off the appearance of the mask.
The object Mask “kpelie” with the object ID 3032209 was last part of the auction 68th tribal art auction at March 3, 2012 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 172 achieved a sales price of EUR 2,500.
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