Mask "okuyi" · Gabon, Punu · ID: 3052398
Starting price
EUR 1,800
Estimated price
EUR 3,500
Provenance
Emil Storrer, Zurich, SwitzerlandZemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 30 November 2013, lot 382
Size
H: 29,5 cm
H: 11.6 inch
Description
light wood, pigments, base
Belonging to the so-called “white-faced masks from the Ogue”. These masks represented female entities from the spirit world, fantastical beings who intervened in the villages on important collective occasions: bereavements, palavers, the birth of twins, times of epidemic, hunts for malevolent sorcerers, and so on. Masked dancers standing on stilts would confront each other in “jousts”. Each dancer would be assisted by a team, whose purpose was to help him perform his competition with an acrobatic feat. The best dancer in the eyes of public would win the match.
Comparing literature
Fagaly, William, Ancestors of Congo Square, New Orleans 2011, p. 276 ff.