Lot 62
Liberia or Sierra Leone, Mende people, ca. 1940s CE. This is a large wood mask characterized by thin slit eyes, a bulging forehead, a delicate nose, and lovely multi-parted coiffure with a sculpted band showing cowrie shells and horns. This type of mask is used by a female society within the Mende culture, on important occasions: handing down justice, attending funeral ceremonies, and going through initiation rites. During those initiation rites, the women who are already intiated, the Sande, wear these masks when they greet the newly initiated as they return from three months' seclusion in the forest. In use, the masks have long costumes attached to cover the entirety of the body so that the identifies of the women are not known. Often these masks combine male elements with female elements to show that the women have attained the same amount of knowledge as men. There are similar examples held by the Vatican Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Size: 15.5" H (39.4 cm)
Provenance: Ex Fernandez Leventhal Gallery, Acq from Dave DeRoche, Piedmont CA.
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#113525
- Condition: Expected wear but very nice detail.
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