Punu Tsengui Mask - Gabon - African Art Tribal Art
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Description
The white masks of Gabon, itengi , (pl. bitengi) were associated with the various secret societies of Gabon, including the Bwiti, Bwete, and the Mwiri ("to lead"), the latter being spread over several levels of initiation, to which all Punu men belonged, and whose emblem was the caiman (hence, for some, the saurian scaled pattern). The Punu did not use any mask in the rituals of the Bwiti, unlike the Tsogo. This object, evocative of a dead young woman, was displayed during the Okuyi dance. These powerful secret societies, which also had a judicial function, included several dances, among which the Leopard Dance, the Esomba Dance, the Mukuyi Dance or the Okuyi Dance, depending on the place, acrobatic dance on stilts, being the most widespread. In some villages, at dawn or at dusk, the Okuyi was accompanied by songs in an esoteric language that only the initiated could understand. (Punu,L. Perrois and C. Grand-Dufay)
Stand not included.
Reserve: $278.00
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Condition
Good, see pictures.
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- 15%
Punu Tsengui Mask - Gabon - African Art Tribal Art
Estimate $574 - $661
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Item located in New York, NY, us$65 shipping in the US
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