AGH289 African Bush cow helmet mask, wood and raffia. Wolof tribe. 18" x 7"
African, bush cow, helmet mask, Wolof people of Guinea, wood, painted dome and face, horns and ears protrude from the brow, cascading arcs represent eyes. Entire mask framed by raffia. Age uncertain, ca.late20th Century. Maker unrecorded. Acquired by us in 1994 from Hamidu Sellah, a trusted African source. The structure of the mask is worn over the top of the wearer’s head. He then sees through opening of the mouth. Similar masks were known to be used in initiation ceremonies, including circumcision of males between 10 and 20 years of age. It identifies the status of the wearer as being in charge of the various steps in the process at the Initiation camp.
18” x 7” #AGH289
Additional Info
The provenance for this piece is muddy. Hamidu Sellah was/is an African importer living in New Jersey at the time we bought the bush cow mask. Our contemporaneous records claim its tribal source is Wolof, which actually is a language group of the Senegal, Angola, Congo, The Gambia geopolitical region. In the end, the mask is so moving that it is attractive even with this uncertainty of its tribal connection.