Staff crowning with four mask faces · Angola, Chokwe · ID: 3051120
Description
wood, surface treated with wax / oil, base
Artfully carved head piece of a sceptre or dignitary staff “mbweci”. Here in a rare version with four masked faces instead of just one head or Janus-shaped. Bastin commented on a staff crowning with five heads: “This sceptre may represent a chief’s lineage” (Bastin, 1982, p. 192, fig. 112).
The object Staff crowning with four mask faces with the object ID 3051120 was last part of the auction Auction 103 at November 16, 2024 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 395.
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Comparing literature
Bastin, Marie-Louise, La sculpture Tshokwe, Gossau 1982