Mask (1) - Wood - Yoruba - Nigeria

Gelede is practiced in a large part of the Yoruba area which covers Nigeria, Benin and Togo. Mask sculpture is classified as one of the major arts of Yoruba culture. Its expression is based on a highly codified process. Each mask is made up of a conventional and well-defined face. On the other hand, the ornament of the mask gives free rein to the artist’s creativity. Indeed, the Gèlèdé sculpture is the concretization or the materialization of a poem or a message. This polychrome mask, from the beginning of the twentieth century, from an old Swiss collection, was acquired at the J. Visser gallery in Brussels in 2008. It is called Gèlèdé with Ohori ears. His condition results from his seniority. It is very rare. It is reproduced in the book “Art of Yoruba“. The mask, 43 cm high without the base, weighs 700 g. I offer the base (2 kg) made specially for this mask, but not the book.