Identifiable thanks to its long oblique eyelids, this almost flat variant of the African kwele mask from Gabon, associated with the ancestors or the spirits of the forest, "ekuk", remains rarer. A ridge depicting the nose, discreetly extended by a small tubular mouth, runs across the face. Two-tone satin patina, gaps and desication cracks. Height on base: 45 cm. Tribe of the Kota group, the Kwélé , Bakwélé , live in the forest on the northern border of the Republic of Congo. They live from hunting, agriculture and metallurgy. Practicing the cult called Bwété borrowed from the Ngwyes, which was accompanied by obligatory initiation rites, they used at the end of the ceremonies the masks ekuk evoking the antelope whose horns meet in a loop under the chin. The blood of the antelope was also used among the Kwélé for therapeutic purposes. They produce rare statues linked to the initiation rites of young people. Abraded two-tone patina, erosions.
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