Rare bird-head dance crest

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Description

light wood, middle brown patina, oval base, slightly hollowed, carved with a nearly naturalistic bird head with pierced eyes and a striking long, extremely fine, tweezers-like beak, slightly dam., minor missing parts (beak tip and rim, eyes), abrasion of paint, metal base;
extreme shapely piece of carving !
the Yao are a large ethnic group residing in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Apart from some helmet masks, carved in the Makonde style and a few figures for initiation ceremonies, no figurative sculpture as such is known.

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Comparing literature

Een keuze uit de verzamling van Walter Hekster, o.O. 2011 Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 619

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