African Masks

The Beaded Royal Headdress is made of a palm tree fibre structure, enfolded with burlap cloth embroided with European glass beads that cover the entire object with geometric symbolic...

Exceptional hand carved wood mask with graphic elements, made of a single piece of wood and was made for decorative purposes. Very intriguing and...

A finely carved mask from the early to mid-1900s made by the Igo People of Southeastern Nigeria. Agbogho, or "maiden spirit" are worn strictly by m...

A very decorative fertility mask by the Baule tribe, associated with the Akan people who live both in Ghana and in the Ivory Coast. The sides with three...

Masks from the Pende people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are considered some of the most dramatic works of African art. The Pende have defined an extensive range of mask forms, many with distinct characters embodied during ritual ceremony. Colored by red and white pigments, this Pende mask...

Carved hardwood mummy mask having a pink-brown painted ground, painted black eyes and brows. Wearing a black headband. Eyes and brows are restored. Scattere...

Attributed to the Yoruba people of western Nigeria, this wooden headdress was worn during a masquerade known as egungun. A widespread Yoruba ritual, egungun performances honor a comm...

To relieve stress and uplift their Community, the Baule people of modern-day Côte d'Ivoire engage in a daylong masquerade known as the Mblo. A series of dances that escalate in compl...

Wooden mask with rock crystal eyes and bronze eyelids/eyebrows Circa: 711-332 BC Origin: Egypt.

The Gelede spectacle of the Yoruba is a public display by colorful masks which combines art and ritual dance to amuse, educate and inspire worship. Gelede celebrates “Mothers” (awon iya wa), a group that includes female ancestors and deities as well as the elderly women of the community, and the power and spiritual capacity these women have in society. However, this power may also be destructive and take the form of witchcraft; therefore, Gelede serves the function of appeasing this power, as well. Gelede costume and headdress. Gelede masks...

The African Kuba Bwoom tribal mask is the oldest known mask, the Kuba bwoom mask. The materials used for the realization of the Mask are: Wood, colors and vibrates plants, caures, beads, animal hair. In dance it expresses exuberance and joy. The style is similar to that of the middle Kasai. This mask is a helmet with animal hair, carved with a very wide forehead and hollow cheeks that are announced by motifs or dashes and beads. The mouth of the mask is very pronounced carved in wood and then applied on the mask. To distinguish the forehead in different areas are used black and white beads to draw attention to other aspects of the face such as the nose and chin. The entire edge of the chin is surrounded by beads of various colors. The person wearing the mask cannot look because there are no holes for the eyes present; the mask must create the feeling of being blind. Some masks similar to the bwoom mask include the funny mask, the ram mask and initiation masks such as Nnup. The real Kuba masks...

This superb example of the ritual African ‘Brow Mask’ is a unique creation of a truly skillful artist from the Jimini tribe of the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) during the Art Deco per...

After oxen were introduced to Guinea Bissau by Portuguese sailors in the 15th century, its strength, aggression, and nobility quickly became integrated i...

Very beautiful mask with large pronounced eyes with the circular cavity shape. The mask depicts a nocturnal bird that can see in the darkness and manifest the presence of divinities ...

Very important “Nwantamtay” dance African mask, consisting of three sections: The upper in plain rectangular shape surmounted by a crescent shape moon, the middle with beautiful geometric triangles in black bitumen and white kaolin, surrounding a red cruciform in the centre of remarkable contrasting colors, and the lower part or face inscribed in a circular space that inspired numbered great artists like Joan Miro, Picasso and Henry Moore of a very strongly solar symbolism, with a projecting protuberance emanating from the forehead like a sculpted bird beak, that descents toward the mouth. Concentric eyes harmonize with the circular mouth, both with of elegant proportions. The whole mask exudes a supreme harmony and perfect balance rarely seen in this pieces. The back-side presents nice ware that attested the ancient origin and traces of animistic ceremonies as the use of animal blood residues. The painting of brown bitumen or cola, the natural colorants in red and ocher tones and the white kaolin are original and do not show any repainted or restored areas, giving a freshness rarely seen in old pieces. This exceptional mask Bwa, of the Hound`e Region in Burkina-Fasso, was used it the transit ceremonies and funerals manifesting the presence of “Do”, name given to their God sons, protectors and powerful spirits. The round face also represents an owl, the curving beak of the bird plants a seed into the sun, like a female sexual vulva being fecundated by the male organ; the eternal symbol of Ying and Yang, masculine and feminine, and the quest of life and death. This mask of Primitive facture can be compared to the one in the celebrated Verite Collection (this one being larger) sold in Paris at the Hotel Drouot, Saturday June 17, Lot 59, for 80,000 Euros and remarkably stands out from the Pierre and Tannia Matisse sold in Sotheby’s, New York in May 13, 2011. Another similar piece was published in: “Arman et l’art africain...

Carved wood African headdress on later iron stand.