Eastern Africa, Tanzania, Makonde peoples, mid 20th century CE. A hand-carved wooden mask with skillfully carved dramatic features such as a jutting chin, large eyes, open mouth, petite nose, round ears, and a neatly styled lobed coiffure with a defined hair line and semi-circular tuft at the center. Wonderful red and black pigment grace the surface, and the peripheries are perforated for attaching to costume. Size: 7.625" W x 8.75" H (19.4 cm x 22.2 cm)

The Makonde people are prolific producers of wooden masks, which are known as Mapiko, and are used in initiation rites; the masks provide a conduit for ancestral spirits, the Lihoka. The dancers usually wear the masks atop their head tiled back so they can see out of the mouth; however, this example has openwork eyes suggesting it was created to be worn over the face. Dancers are always men, while the audience often consists of women and children.

Provenance: ex-Allen Davis collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

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#124879

Age cracks. Some losses to peripheries, a few nicks here and there. Surface has developed a lovely patina.