Mask - Hardwood - Baule - Côte d'Ivoire

Magnificent horned Buffalo Mask, Guro/Baule, Ivory Coast Height: 31 cm. The high degree of stylisation confers a striking and smooth aspect to the piece, strongly evocative - and far beyond a simple trivial figurative animal representation; Therefore, it is comparable to the most beautiful animal masks of its kind, like those found in Gabon, which stylise in a schematic and particularly refined way the subtle and powerful evocation of this animal, by the means of a few curves. Our mask brings purity to the animal style of Ivory Coast; the perfect mastery of the curves and the squat volumetry confer to the piece, through only a few sets of lines, quality of pure and great design. This piece is the work of a master sculptor at the peak of his art; Dense wood dyes in black, red and white - 1st third of the 2nd half of the 20th century. Many lacks due to xylophagous insects (?) , but they do not distort the interpretation, nor the shapes of the mask; Given its sculptural quality, we can easily recognise that means were deployed to preserve it; without any restoration, the internal patina was cleansed. Without stand. A label from an English auction enables to retrace its origin (Chiswick, lot 189, 11th of December 2018) .