This is the rating and price for Mask Gong Kwele, 1972
Description : Mask gong Kwele, Gabun wood, blackened, kaolin (extremely darkened), of oval hollowed form with vertical ridges on each side, framing a flattened facial plane, the forehead carved with a raised triangle with curved sides, its lower leg forming the brows in a constant horizontal line, crescent-shaped pierced eyes below, arranged close to each other, flanking a small triangular nose with flattened tip, a slightly vaulted, broad mouth area situated at the tip of the chin, carved with projecting canines, the rim backside at the bottom board-shaped prolonged, slightly dam. (rims), missing parts (head, tip of the forehead triangle, canine tips), crack (board-shaped prolongation), traces of old insect caused damage (above all on the rear), on base, the gong mask type is the portrayal of an adult male gorilla, as a cunning and dangerous animal symbolizing the power of nature and intended to be frightening. Its stylized forms were drawn from a specific cosmological belief system and were supported by visions experienced during religious rites. The mask carver had to be both a gaa beete (initiated) and a masterful artist able to shape the wood into a functional image of the spirits that appeared during the rites. Kwele artists succeeded in giving these important socio-religious objects an abstract, symbolic qualtiy, while conferring on them the very essence of their effectiveness: vitality, strength, and clairvoyance. When the villagers saw these objects, they momentarily shared the vision of the initiated. They knew perfectly well that the mask was not a real gorilla, but saw it as the very spirit of the bush with all of its potent magic force. According to Leon Siroto, these masks play the role of an important ekuk of the Beete. They are supposed to be ekuk met (ekuks with medicine) and assume an important function in justice. A comparable piece was auctioned at Loudmer, Paris (lot 25) in 1991. Rare mask type ! H: 31 cm, 19th century (4722/001) Provenance Old Colonial Collection, France Expertise Certificat d'Analyse (1206-OA-01B), 23. Février 2007, à Pessac, Dr. Céline Roque pour CIRAM (Centre d'Innovation et de Recherche pour l'Analyse et le Marquage) Literature Perrois, Louis, Arts du Gabon, Paris 1979, ill. 296 Perrois, Louis, Art of the Kwele of Equatorial Africa: ancestor masks, bush spirit masks, in: Tribal Arts, Spring 2001, p. 104, fig. 28 - 35 Siroto, Léon, Gon: A mask used in competition for leadership among the BaKwele, in: African Art and Leadership, ed. Douglas Fraser and Herbert Cole, University of Wisconsin Press, 1972
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