African Arts Gallery

This Mossi mask with a bird's beak, embodying a spirit, has a summit ridge between two curved horns. A polychrome patina enhances the decorative motifs. The holder of the mask and his family worshipped the object through offerings such as millet beer, while invoking its protection.
Grainy patina, locally cracked
. The black patina was originally obtained from charcoal and gum tree pods.
Mossi masks, personal or lineage, are an incarnation of tutelary spirits offering support. They appear at funerals, at the funerals of clan chiefs, and protect the crops. As altars without their costumes, they can receive libations such as millet beer in order to honor the ancestors. Their appearance is now frequent during entertainment shows. Upper Volta, Burkina Faso since independence, is composed of the descendants of the Nakomse invaders, horsemen from Ghana, and the Tengabibisi, descendants of the natives. Among them, the farmers and blacksmiths, saaba, used masks, wando, receptacles of tutelary spirits, which often represented the totem animals of the clan.