Mask - Gabon (No reserve price)

Mask of justice Ikwara - Pounou / Tsangui - Gabon
Gabonese masks are often named after the rites they participate in (Bwiti, bweté, byéri, ngil, emboli, okuyi, mukuyi...).
They come into play in every vital circumstance for the community: rites of a social nature (mourning, funerals, illnesses), rites of purification or fertility (birth, adolescence, virginity), rites of reconciliation and justice (to restore the authority of the chief, harmony within families, or resolve intergenerational conflicts), or finally rites of protection (which aim more specifically to attract the good graces of ancestors or spirits...).
The Mukuyi masks, commonly called “white masks,” are coated with kaolin which in ancient times was mixed with powdered human bones. This ritual white cosmetic, still in use throughout Equatorial Africa, is called Pfemba.