Mask - Mitsogho - Gabon (No reserve price)

Sagho mask of Gabon

Related to the Okuyi African masks of the Punu people and the Shira tribes, the masks produced by the peripheral groups Vuvi, Galoa and Mitsogho or Tsogho are also covered with white pigments for apotropaic purposes. Some display touches of red ochre. They are sometimes equipped with a headdress featuring an oblique visor, as seen on this specimen.


As is often the case in Africa, the wood has fallen prey to wood-boring pests and the ravages of time. The Mitsogho ethnic group is settled in a forested region on the right bank of the Ngoumé River. The Bwiti society, which has a reliquary system comparable to that of the Fang and Kota, formed the cohesion of Mitsogho families. Their masks were exhibited at funerals and stored in the male initiation house, ebanza. The Vuvi produced masks that were fairly similar, influenced by their proximity to the Mitsogho.