This is the rating and price for A Kwele Facemask

Description : None
Price: 20 400.00 USD It's free to register now to view!
Estimate (low-high) : 18000 USD-22000 USD It's free to register now to view!

About the lot N° 2568
Title : A Kwele Facemask
Notes : Exhibited:Governors State University, IL, 2003Krannert Art Museum, IL, 2003Belger Art Foundation/University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO, 2004Tall Grass Art Association, IL, 2005Published:Bourgeois and Rodolitz, REMNANTS OF RITUAL: SELECTIONS FROM THE GELBARD COLLECTION OF AFRICAN ART, Ethnos, New York, 2003, p.31, fig.69Bakwele masks were traditionally made for use in the Beete cult, which regulated social behavior, and had initiatory and magical functions. Beete appears to have waned by the 1920’s among the Bakwele, yet masks continued to be made by traditional carvers for decades. The Gelbard example was collected early enough to be compared with a very similar though unusual example collected by Governor Antonietti, before the Second World War. In the case of that example, the mask is solid and Janus. The Gelbard example however is a true face mask, and some of the holes beneath each eye are pierced to allow the dancer to see through the mask. Both masks bear nearly identical rendering of the face, mouth, and dotted motifs as highlights - it is not at all impossible that both are the work of the same carver or workshop. Masks such as the Gelbard example in traditional Beete contexts would have been considered “beautiful” masks, and danced in a female manner according to Siroto. Perrois refers to this type as “Pipibudze” and implies that it is a mask that depicts protective forest spirits.
Bonhams 2, auctioneer, New York, US It's free to register now to view!
Sale title : Fine African and Oceanic Art
Sale date : 13 Nov 2007 It's free to register now to view!
Sale Reference : Live Sale

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