Rare old "zauli" mask · Côte d'Ivoire, Guro · ID: 3044091
Sotheby’s, New York, 2 December 1983, lot 106
Description
wood, rep., base
“Zauli” is the third member of the mask group that includes “zamble” and “gu”. He is male, grotesque and ugly, rude and fierce. The animal face of this mask somewhat resembles that of “zamble”. “Zauli’s” horns, however, are always long. The mask is rarely repainted as it ages, but instead is often encrusted from ritual offerings.
“Zauli” masks are very rare and ethnographic information is scarce. Himmelheber does not mention “zauli” in his book “Negerkunst und Negerkünstler“ (1960). Fischer writes: “I saw” zauli “dancing as a mask only once, in Pohufla 1984” (Munich 2008, p. 253).
A very similar “zauli” mask is shown in Fischer, 2008, p. 252, ill. 242. Even the openwork nasal crest can be found here.
Comparing literature
Fischer, Eberhard, Guro, Masks, Munich, Berlin, London, New York 2008, p. 249 ff.
Publications
AHDRC: 0061763