Mask of the White Man - Fang - Equatorial Guinea

According to this former settler, this mask was used on his plantation in performances of parody and entertainment, and represented the spirit of the white man. Was the mask, then, a representation
of a European’s face? It is possible, insofar as Fang tradition holds that the deceased are reincarnated in the land of the Whites. The Whites are thus the ancestors who have returned to visit the living. They possess, moreover, all the characteristics of the defector spirits from the world of supernatural forces: they are wicked and evil, though few in number, and they learn the languages of the various villages. The oldest known examples are single-faced Ngontang masks, such as this one, and their precise use is unknown.

Provenance: Private collection Guinea
Argiles Collection, Barcelona