African Arts Gallery

African plank mask, very graphic, surmounted by arched horns. It is a stylized, narrow face of a bovid (nyatti), flanked by two wings indicating ears. The piece is embellished with geometric patterns in contrasting colors. A metal blade indicates the tongue. Abraded patina, desiccation crack in the center of the lugs. Sculpted by the sculptors of Douala in the Bay of Cameroon, this type of zoomorphic mask was produced for the initiates of the ekongolo society, still active, with the aim of honoring the ancestors on the occasion of ritual ceremonies, and were worn like a helmet. This mask was also responsible, according to the explorer Zintgraff, for driving away the uninitiated, which was also the role of the Oku masks of the Grassland. The Douala, living at the mouth of the Wuri river, organized regattas where one could admire, on the prows of the canoes, sculpted works, painted in bright colors, depicting reptiles and animals. Ref. : "Arts of Africa and Oceania" Coll. Barber Mueller ed. Culturespaces