Korè Bambara mask, Mali Wood H. 43 cm Provenance... - Lot 40 - Giquello

Lot 40
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Estimation :
40000 - 60000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 62 400EUR
Korè Bambara mask, Mali Wood H. 43 cm Provenance... - Lot 40 - Giquello
Korè Bambara mask, Mali Wood H. 43 cm Provenance : - André Schoeller, Paris Publication: - Kerchache J., Paudrat J.-L., Stephan L., L'art africain, Editions Mazenod, Paris, 1988, p. 370, n°295 The mask adopts the stylized features of a hyena, a thaumaturgist animal from Bambara mythology, both feared and respected. The concave face forms a delicate oval in which are inscribed the powerful nasal ridge, a pair of square eyes - representing a clear vision of things - and the open, almost smiling mouth. Two high ears frame the face, taking root at the level of the mouth and highlighting the face in a particularly dynamic way. On the top of the skull, a small protuberance symbolizes the tuft of hair supposed to contain a dangerous life force, which the hunter cuts off from the beast after having shot it. As J.-P. Colleyn notes, "the symbolism of the hyena has nothing stable: it is both absent-mindedness and wisdom, voracity and thirst for knowledge. The superb patina of the mask is the result of prolonged ritual use, but also of a specific and ancient treatment which allowed, notably by fumigation, to protect it against thermites and worms. The hyena mask was part of the korè, an initiation ritual that took place every seven years at the end of the dry season, during which all members of an age group were symbolically killed in order to be reborn as adults. But the masters of the korè also extended their power over the rites that conditioned the natural cycles. Intercessors with the sky, they had the power to obtain rain or, on the contrary, to stop storms.
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