Pendant mask

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Description

metal-gold alloy with a high percentage of copper-bearing metal, filigree work in wax-fibre-technique, eyes and long nose worked in relief, five triangular cut-outs, two minor missing parts in the cast, base;
the two rings surmounting this head make clear that the piece was designed to be worn as a pendant. The Baule call these works “mblo” (just like their entertainment dance protrait masks) or “sran trè”, “human head”, and keep them jealously hidden away in the family treasure “aja”. Only at the time of the great festivals, they were worn by both men and women.

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Littérature comparée

Garrard, Timothy, Afrikanisches Gold, München 1989, p. 203, ill. 58,1

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