Mourning face mask "okuyi" · Gabon, Masango · ID: 3041758

Name: Mourning face mask "okuyi"
SKU: 3041758
Price: 4000 EUR
Availability: SoldOut

sold EUR 4,000

Provenance

Walter Schmidt, Würzburg/Innsbruck, Germany/Austria

Size

H: 26 cm

H: 10.2 inch

Description

wood, brown patina, red pigment, face characteristically whitened with “pemba” (kaolin), handwritten inscription on the backside “Masango 27”, slightly dam., insect caused missing parts backside at the rim, abrasion of paint;
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.

The object Mourning face mask “okuyi” with the object ID 3041758 was part of the auction 86th Tribal Art Auction on May 27, 2017. The object with the lot number 52 achieved a sales price of EUR 4,000 with an asking price of EUR 2,000.

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