ADOUMA
ADOUMA
Mbudi mask (a variant of the Mvudi mask).
20th century.Height: 21 cm.Light wood, with a crusty patina alternating in a chequered pattern between the red of padouk powder and the white of kaolin. The face is rectangular, divided into four sections painted alternately in white and red. The alternation of white, symbolising the invisible world, peace and wisdom, and red, symbolising the breath of life, fire, power and blood, forms a two-tiered mosaic, complemented by the black of the eyebrows—a colour symbolising the materiality of earthly life—and visually conveys the interpenetration of the forces of life, the invisible world and the visible world.The nose is represented by a vertical ridge forming a T-shape as it joins the horizontally arranged brow ridges. The eyes are reduced to thin slits, reinforcing the mask’s mysterious and inscrutable appearance.
ADOUMA
Mbudi mask (a variant of the Mvudi mask).
20th century.Height: 21 cm.Light wood, with a crusty patina alternating in a chequered pattern between the red of padouk powder and the white of kaolin. The face is rectangular, divided into four sections painted alternately in white and red. The alternation of white, symbolising the invisible world, peace and wisdom, and red, symbolising the breath of life, fire, power and blood, forms a two-tiered mosaic, complemented by the black of the eyebrows—a colour symbolising the materiality of earthly life—and visually conveys the interpenetration of the forces of life, the invisible world and the visible world.The nose is represented by a vertical ridge forming a T-shape as it joins the horizontally arranged brow ridges. The eyes are reduced to thin slits, reinforcing the mask’s mysterious and inscrutable appearance.
