Photographs © Tim Hamill
HEMBA
Mask 4
8.75" high
$200
SOLD
There are four repaired cracks on this mask that can be best seen in the bottom back detail below. The only one visible on the front runs from the corner of the mouth up and back (see second photo above.) They are now stable. The patina is varied and well suited to the piece.
We have no reason to believe that this mask was actually ever used.
The extremely stylized chimpanzee masks are called mwisi gwa so'o a term that alludes to the "spirit-ivested object of the chimpanzee human" that inhabits the mask. The mwisi gwa so'o masqueraders wear a costume of aniumal skin, barkcloth and the hair of Colobis monkeys. Their raucous dances, performed at funeral and memorial services, reflect Hemba ideas about death and social chaos and stand in diametrical opposition to the otherwise ordered world of the living. (from African Masks from the Barbier-Mueller Collection by Hahner-Herzog, Kecskesi and Vajda.)
|
TRIBE |
OBJECT |
|