Zoomorphic mask · Mali, Bamana · ID: 3032336
Hubert Caspers, Hamburg, Germany
Description
wood, brown encrusted patina, cowrie snails, feathers, plant fibres, combining features of different animals, surmounted by a separate carved bird’s figure, min. dam., cracks, slight traces of abrasion;
probably a “warakun” mask. This mask type is the most aggressive of all the masks of “komo” society, and it is thought to be frightening - as an expression of social control. Because the “komo” society supervised every decisive event, like birth, circumcision, marriage or funerals, and played an important role in ancestral and agrarian rites as well. The mask was worn horizontally on the head. Their appearance was accompanied by rhythmical stamping of a hundreds of men (women and non-initiates were not allowed to see it).
Comparing literature
Colleyn, Jean Paul (Hg.), Bamana, Zürich 2001, p. 177