Couronnement de bâton avec quatre masques faciaux ·  Angola, Tchokwé · 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).

Littérature comparée

Bastin, Marie-Louise, La sculpture Tshokwe, Gossau 1982