Staff crowning with four mask faces · Angola, Chokwe · ID: 3051120
not available anymore
Provenance
Erwin & Susanne Melchardt, Vienna, AustriaSize
H: 20,5 cm
H: 8.1 inch
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).
Comparing literature
Bastin, Marie-Louise, La sculpture Tshokwe, Gossau 1982