Helmet mask "lipiko" ·  Mozambique, Makondé · ID: 3036605

Description

light wood, dyed with yellow ochre, nearly naturalistic modelled facial features: a broad flat nose, eyes with heavy hanging lids, characteristic feature: the prominent diamond-shaped mouth, the whole facial plane covered by incised scarification marks, elaborate coiffure with human hair, inserted in star-shaped and round deepenings in the head, slightly dam. (chin, right eyelid), crack, base;
“lipiko” masks were extremely valuable, so that every village only had three or four of them. They were carved outside the village at secret places and were hidden in special mask houses. The “lipiko” masks appeared at so-called “mapiko” masquerades, shortly after the young male initiates returned from the bush camps. They represented the spirits of the ancestors “midimu” and should invite community to take part in the rites.