Bambara - Mali

This mask belongs to the initiation society called Tyéblenko, which brings together children between the ages of three and six. This society has as its patron the ancestor of the dwarves, Bassi the Red, called Tyé Kúróbani, 'the little man who is very old', and celebrates annual rites. Bassi is the dwarf driver of large hunting animals, mainly large antelopes, and is the object of ancestor worship, especially by hunters who, among both the Bambara and the Malinké, claim paternity of the invention of masks.

Provenance: N Gom Codov, Paris
Argiles Collection, Barcelona