West Africa, Mail, Bamana people, ca. late 19th to early 20th century CE. This is a large wooden mask with with round stone details for eyes that depicts a large foreheaded, small eared, big nosed, primate-like figure. The figure also appears to have a long beard and has fish scale designs down both sides of its face. This mask would have been used as part of the korè society. The Bamana are the largest ethnic group in Mali, and live as subsistence agriculturalists in the dry savanna. Men pass through six "societies" during their lives, each with its own period of study follow by ritual of initiation. The korè society is entered by teenagers after they experience a symbolic death and rebirth through rituals relating to fire and masculinity. These rituals take place in a sacred wood, where the youths are harassed by elders and clown-like performers called korédugaw. When they emerge from the wood, the teenagers, now members of the korè society, wear masks that represent the animal whose qualities they have come to incarnate. This particular one seems to resemble a monkey. A very similar mask is in the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium. Size: 4.5" L x 5.5" W x 15.75" H (11.4 cm x 14 cm x 40 cm).

Provenance: Ex-private Peter Arnovick collection, Los Altos CA.

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#112253

Cracking to the wood; wear and slight encrustation.