Zoomorphic mask ·  Burkina Faso, Nuna · ID: 3035700

Description

wood, matt patina, polychrome paint, depicting a hornbill, open worked headgear, handwritten collection label “34” backside, pierced around the rim, min. dam., missing parts through insect caused damage, cracks, slight traces of abrasion;
the hornbill is a very large bird that mates for life. Each year, the female makes a nest in a tree hollow, and the male and the female seal the entrance to the nest with clay. The male then spends the next weeks flying through the forest searching for lizard, beetles etc., which it passes to the female on her eggs inside the nest. The Nuna and others see this constant passage from outside to inside as metaphor for the passage to the world of the spirits.

Comparing literature

Roy, Christopher D., Land of the flying masks, München 2007, ill. 57 ff.