About the lot N° 2536
Title : A Chamba Bushcow Helmet Mask
Notes : Exhibited:Governors State University, IL, 2003, Krannert Art Museum, IL, 2003, Belger Art Foundation/University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO, 2004, Tall Grass Art Association, IL, 2005.Published:Bourgeois and Rodolitz, REMNANTS OF RITUAL: SELECTIONS FROM THE GELBARD COLLECTION OF AFRICAN ART, Ethnos, New York, 2003, p.17, fig.27Straddling the Nigeria/Cameroon borderlands, Chamba matriclans sponsor a masquerade that incorporates both the ancestral dead and aspects of wild nature. This takes place on the occasion of a chief's installation to office, then again for coming to manhood ceremonies that involve circumcision of the young men and lastly at mourning festivals at the death of a prominent individual. Some masks are colored red in reference to their maleness and possibly associated with the blood of the hunt while others are painted black in reference to dangers of the night and witches and bear female associations. A few examples, such as this black and white colored mask, present a composite. The wooden headpiece bears the horns of a wild bushcow, the maw of a crocodile, monster of the water, while the ears and nose and cranial dome take on a human aspect.Bonhams 2, auctioneer, New York, US
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Sale title : Fine African and Oceanic Art
Sale date : 13 Nov 2007
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Sale Reference : Live Sale
