Lot n° 275
Estimation :
10000 - 12000
EUR
Rare and ancient facial mask, of remarkable serenity and fin - Lot 275
Rare and ancient facial mask, of remarkable serenity and fineness of line. The composition of the face, long but generously ovalized with a pointed chin, shows a hieratic and sovereign attitude. The long nose, with fine nostrils in hollowed out cups, centers the face. The eyes and the half-closed mouth are framed on both sides by a delicate ornamental zigzag band. The cheeks and the chin are decorated with three vertical keloid bars. The dome-shaped forehead is rounded and bears a pair of horns descending in two generous curves towards the middle of the face. A small headdress composed of five cups and a cylinder is centered on the top of the head. The outer edge of the mask is decorated with a frame of small curls.
Republic of the Ivory Coast, Senufo-Diula cultural area. Diula Kingdom of Kong
Bronze, lost wax casting of remarkable finesse
Misses, rubbing, wear and wise patina
H. 26 cm
18th/19th century
Provenance :
Coll. Christian DEBENEST, 1970s
Ex-collection René (1928-2015) and Denise (1928-2011) David, Kilchberg, Switzerland, (1988)
Johann Levy Gallery, Paris, France, 2000
French private collection
Sotheby' , New York, African, Oceanic Northwest Coast Art, Nov. 16, 2001, lot 70
Publications :
FORSTER T. / HOMBERGER L. : Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen. Exhibition catalog, 28 May - 2 October 1988, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1988. P. 43, fig. 28
Musée Barbier-Mueller (ed.): Arts de la Côte d' voire. Catalog d' xposition. Geneva 1993, VOL I, P. 113, Fig. 115
The Van Rijn African Heritage Documentation Research Centre (AHDRC): Object ao-0073535-001 (http://www.guyvanrijn.com/) 2022
Exhibitions :
Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen. Museum Rietberg, Zürich, Switzerland, 1988.
Notes:
Called do muso (the woman of do) by the Kong Diula, the metal facial masks are a tribute to the feminine ideal. They appear during the great Muslim festivals, notably for Id-El-Fitr (the breaking of the Ramadan fast), preceded by the festival of young girls, Kourbi-ba, and concluded by the masked dances of Lo
Hans Himmelheber reproduced for the first time in 1960, in his book Negerkunst und Negerkunstler (pl. V), a Senufo mask in brass of the kanyire kodalye'e type that he had collected in the Diula village of Kapélé. He states that the mask was made by a Lorhon founder. Later, Timothy Garrard would establish that these founders produced metal masks for their Diula neighbors as early as the last third of the eighteenth century. In his stylistic classification of Diula metal masks, Garrard places the mask presented here in the Group A style created in a period between the late eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries. Garrard has identified fifteen metal masks of this type, including:
Schaedler (Karl-Ferdinand), "Earth and Ore. 2500 Years of African Art in Terra-cotta and Metal," Munich: Panterra Verlag, 1997:101, #145
"Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen", by Till Förster Lorenz Homberger, Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1988:42, fig.26. Private collection, Switzerland
Expo cat : "Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen", by Till Förster Lorenz Homberger, Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1988:42, fig.27. Coll. René (1928-2015) and Denise (1928-2011) David, Kilchberg, Switzerland
Expo cat.: "Die Kunst der Senufo, Elfenbeinküste", by Koloss (Hans-Joachim), Berlin: SMPK, 1990:54, fig.48. Collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva
See for other types of related bronze masks:
The one collected by Simon Escarré (1909-1999), later Loed Mia van Bussel collection, Amsterdam.
The mask published by Himmelheber
The mask from the New Orleans Museum of Art N° 77.179, (bequest of Victor K. Kiam)
The one from the Carlos Museum, Emory University N° 2017.032.125, (Gift of Charles S. Ackerman and Joanne McGill-Ackerman), Ex coll. Jay C. Leff, Uniontown, Pennsylvania
The one published by Robert Goldwater in 1964
Reference. :
Prouteaux (M.-P.), Kong entertainments; Bull. Corn. Et. Hist. Scient. AOF, 8, 1925, pp. 606-650
Himmelheber Hans: Negerkunst und Negerkunstler. Klinkhardt Biermann, Braunschweig. 1960
Goldwater, Robert: Senufo Sculpture from West Africa. Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1964. P; 38, fig. 44
FORSTER T. / HOMBERGER L.: Die Kunst der Senufo aus Schweizer Sammlungen. Exhibition catalog, 28 May - 2 October 1988, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1988
Barbier-Mueller Museum (ed.): Arts de la Côte d' voire Catalogue d' xposition. Geneva 1993.
Schaedler (Karl-Ferdinand), "Earth and Ore. 2500 Years of African Art in Terra-cotta and Metal", Munich: Panterra Verlag, 1997:101, #145
Kodjo, Georges Niamkey, Le royaume de Kong, Côte d'Ivoire: des origines à la fin du XIXe siècle, Paris
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