Woman's mask - Tikar - Cameroon

In Cameroon, the Tikar people were considered excellent bronze workers, working closely with artists from the kingdom of Benin. The beauty of the design and their extraordinary modeling and casting (3 mm thick) give these pieces great quality. The masks were cast using the lost wax process: the artisan prepares a model in clay covered with wax, surrounds this model with a thin layer of potter's clay and then with coarser clay; once the clay is dry, it is poured through holes left for this purpose, and the molten bronze causes the wax to melt, which drains through channels made for this purpose, leaving a crucible that is gradually filled with the molten metal. When the craftsman considers that the entire mold has been filled, after it has cooled, he breaks it, obtaining an exact replica of the wax model, which has disappeared, hence the name “lost wax.” Each piece is unique.

Provenance: Private collection, France
Argiles collection, Barcelona