Baule style mask - Lot 356

Baule style mask Ivory Coast Wood, pigments Height : 50 cm Bonu Amwin janiform mask. The existence of a double mouth means that the amwin is a presence full of duplicity and ambivalence. They include both virtue and vice. Less zoomorphic than monstrous, they have a spectacular dimension that aims to create an emotional shock, to produce a visual aggression to establish a deep relationship with the tutelary entities. The heads placed horizontally present eyes with white eyelids in a circular arc, elongated noses, mouths open in a rectangle on stabbed tongues. Four zoomorphic ears surmount the figure. Bonu Amwin means "god from the bush". Belonging to institutions reserved for men, the only mark of sacredness of these masks is the absolute prohibition to be seen or seen by women. BAOULÉ STYLE - MASK 50 CM