Fine African Art Auction
Lot 305:
Height 15 inches.
This type of mask is rare in the sense that most masks of this kind are helmets. The mask was commissioned and worn by women, although carved by men. This is probably the only cultural tradition in most of the African continent where women are allowed to wear masks in public ceremonies. This mask is associated with education and socialization of young Mende and Val female, as supervised within the Mende society. Senior women wear them also during the termination of the initiation ceremonies in order to embody their own patron spirit persona of fecundity and grace, known as Sowel.
Share this lot:
