Buffalo mask - Wood - Nam Gbalang - Chamba - Nigeria
Large Nam Gbalang buffalo mask Chamba culture, Nigeria First half of the 20th century Wood and pigments Height: approx. 80 cm Wooden helmet mask featuring a stylized buffalo pigmented with black, echoing the female gender, the night and witches, and brown ochre, referring to the male gender and blood. A large pair of semicircular horns occupies the top of the mask, almost joining to form an openwork disc. Its nasal bridge continues to the forehead, its ears are marked in two rectangular bulges and its rectangular mouth is half-open - reminiscent of the crocodile's large jaw. It appeared on the occasion of funeral or passage rites of the Kaa festival and is associated with the Vara cult.
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Large Nam Gbalang buffalo mask Chamba culture, Nigeria First half of the 20th century Wood and pigments Height: approx. 80 cm Wooden helmet mask featuring a stylized buffalo pigmented with black, echoing the female gender, the night and witches, and brown ochre, referring to the male gender and blood. A large pair of semicircular horns occupies the top of the mask, almost joining to form an openwork disc. Its nasal bridge continues to the forehead, its ears are marked in two rectangular bulges and its rectangular mouth is half-open - reminiscent of the crocodile's large jaw. It appeared on the occasion of funeral or passage rites of the Kaa festival and is associated with the Vara cult.
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