Classical So-Mask - medium density wood: Alstonia gabonnensis or Ricinodendron africanum - Fang - North Gabon And South Cameroon

Classical So-Mask – Fang – North Gabon And South Cameroon In reasonably good state and with signs of much use all over. It dates to the 1920s. On stand. Provenance: Ex- collection of Jean- Pierre Fernandier, Brussels. Obtained from his gallery by H. Westerdijk in 1989. Horned masks are scarce among the Fang and are only known in this form from the So- society, which was solely active in N. E. Gabon and in S. Cameroon. The lay –out of the mask bears some resemblance to certain Kwele examples that were adopted by them from the Fang originals. The So- mask comes in various sizes, but, as is so often the case, the smallest are the oldest. What we see is a human face with horns on top and a small goatee underneath the chin, which forms an integral part with the protruding mouth. It represents the red bushbuck, a species of antelope that has a totemic value for the Fang. The face is rectangular with small slit- eyes and a thin long nose. The horns are slightly bent and are carved in a tapering shape. The now much fainted colours are red, black and white, the essential ritual pigments in most of Africa. An old and authentic piece from a reliable source, Mr. Fernandier having been one of the major dealers of African art in Belgium in his days. Literature: Louis Perrois: Ancestral art of Gabon. Los Angeles, 1986, pp. 150ff. See especially p. 152. Dimensions: 49 x 16 x 12 cm. People / Region: Northeastern Fang of Gabon and adjacent South Cameroon. Material: medium density wood: Alstonia gabonnensis or Ricinodendron africanum. Weight: 0. 398 kg. Sold with handwritten declaration of authenticity by Dr. P. Westerdijk, museum ethnologist and cultural anthropologist specialized, for over 50 years now, in the study of the material cultures in African nations that live south of the Sahara.