DM0027MA YORUBA
HELMET GELEDE MASK more...
AFRICAN MASKS
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DM0027MA YORUBA HELMET GELEDE MASK more... |
DM0027MA (SIDE) | DM0027MA (SIDE) | DM00031MA ASHANTI MASK more... |
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| DM0030MA SALAMPASU MASK more... | DM0030 (SIDE) | DM0026MA KWELE MASK more... | DM0028MA SALAMPASU MASK more... |
Catalogue #_DM__0027MA_____________
Also former collection numbers CC41056(Christensen) 979L344 both in white ink
Item MASK YORUBA GELEDE MASK NIGERIA
Dimensions: Ht.=39cm L.=31cm W.=32cm
Description (physical):
Carved wooden helmet mask blackened with traces of white Kaolin and Ricketts blue in the eyes , tribal scars, and mouth The inside of mask unpainted. The hair beautifully coiffurred and carved. The face has lovely pouty lips and typical Yoruba eyes. It has a magnificent coiffure with a central ridge.
Description (ethnographic/ historic including provenance)
This Gelede mask is evidently old and has come from at least two collections before I acquired it in 1997. I bought it at a public auction house that was dispersing the Christensen Fund Collection in 1996 and 1997.
Mr Allen Christensen with his wife established the Californian based Fund in 1957. Christensen was an engineer who founded TEXADA Mines and was president of the UTAH Mining and Construction company. Many of his pieces acquired from leading auction houses and tribal dealers and collectors were on loan to museums such as the ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA and the QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY between 1978 and 1987. Other objects in the collection also formally came from the Christensen collection.
Acquired from auction in 1997.
Catalogue #_DM_0031MA__________
Item MASK ASHANTI AFRICA
Dimensions: Ht.=27cm W.=12cm D.=10cm
Description (physical):
Wooden mask of unstained wood. Coiffure of vertical lines above almond eyes. The eyes are pieced in slits. The lips are thick and pierced. Scarification in diamond shapes on each cheek and linear scars under the chin.
Description (ethnographic/ historic including provenance)
This mask is African and I believe it to be Ashanti who make the famous dolls. It could also be Chokwe from Angola and will need further examination.I think though that this mask is a West African and not a Central African piece.
Acquired in1998
Catalogue #_DM_0030MA______________
Item____MASK SALAMPASU AFRICAN CONGO MASK___
Dimensions: Ht.=37cm L.= 28cm W.=18 cm
Description (physical):
Wooden mask with raffia balls on the crown as a form of hat with copper hammered to the front . The forehead is bulbous and descends into a triangle which includes the triangular eyes and the large nose below which is the mouth. Themouth is not covered in copper. Neither are the nodules at the temple
Description (ethnographic/ historic including provenance)
This mask is similar to catalogue numberDM0029MA but is more ancient in manufacture. The nodules on the side of the temples are for attaching string to hold the mask in place on the face of the warrior.
The Salampasu are found in the Kasai Province of the Congo and had a warrior society. Their masks were integral to that society. The copper covered masks being called "Mukinka" and were worn by senior members of the society. Many members of the society owned many masks as a sign of wealth and knowledge. The masks were made of various materials. The lower rungs of the society had grass masks . The next stage in the society wore only wooden masks and the third and most senior level wore copper covered wooden masks.
The society has since been disbanded but the copper covered masks are still worn at circumcision ceremonies.
Aquired at auction in 1999
Catalogue #_DM0026MA__________
Also another collection number CC40724 (Christensen)
Item________'PIPIBUDZE' __KWELE MASK Africa____________________
Dimensions: W.=31cm L.= 31cm D.=6cm
Description (physical):
Rounded African mask carved from wood. Almond shaped eyes with abstract mouth ? forming the lower part of the mask in white pigment. The whole mask decorated in white ,orange and black pigment. Tear like drops carved then infilled in white below the eyes in two rows below each eye.The nose also has similar carved dots infilled in white in two rows. The back has string for attaching to a wall with a label of another collection. CC40724 (Christensen Fund Collection of ethnographic art)
Description (ethnographic/ historic including provenance)
This is a typical looking Kwele mask from Equatorial Africa. It has the dip in the top of the head suggesting a heart shape and the eyes are almond like slits. For a more indepth discussion of KWELE ART see TRIBAL ARTS "Le Monde de L'Art Tribal" Spring 2001 pages 80-113 The same article has on page 82 Figure 3 shown a mask with the same tears below the eyes and through the eyebrows and nose. The one illustrated it Tribal Arts has three rows of tears below each eye not two as does this mask. This mask has orange pigment where the other has Kaolin. The Tribal Arts mask is from the region KWELE -NDJABI Northwest Sembe region and is in the French National collection AF 13185 .
DM0026MA differs from Pipibudze masks as it has an orange pigmented face and not a white Kaolin one.The mask in my collection was also made I think to be hung on a wall and not worn but this could bear further examination.
Acquired at auction 1997
Catalogue #_DM___0028MA__
Item___MASK SALAMPASU MASK Warrior Class_______
Dimensions: Ht.=31cm L.=23cm W.=27cm
Description (physical):
Wooden mask with raffia balls on the crown as a form of hat.The bulbous forehead sits above two eyeholes. The large nose its above an open mouth . The teeth in the mouth whitened with kaolin. The mask's chin ending in a point. The whole of the mask apart from the teeth and the band seperating the crown from the face is covered in strips of beaten copper.The back of the mask has a netting to hold it in place when worn.
Description (ethnographic/ historic including provenance)
This mask is similar to DM0030MA but is more modern in manufacture . It has a different method of being held in place and has kaolin on the front. The Salampasu are found in the Kasai Province of the Congo and had a warrior society. Their masks were integral to that society. The copper covered masks being called "Mukinka" and were worn by senior members of the society. Many members of the society owned many masks as a sign of wealth and knowledge. The masks were made of various materials. The lower rungs of the society had grass masks . The next stage in the society wore only wooden masks and the third and most senior level wore copper covered wooden masks.
The society has since been disbanded but the copper covered masks are still worn at circumcision ceremonies.
Aquired from a Sydney dealer in 1999