Superb bifacial mask - Kwélé - Gabon (No reserve price)

Kwele Two-Faced Mask
This African mask is used during Bweete or Bwété ceremonies in Gabon and embodies an ekuk, a forest spirit. Two joined faces, with hollowed, heart-shaped features, display fine, smiling lips set at the tip of the chin. A bulge forms the lower part of the mask. Eroded two-tone patina. Depending on the presence and arrangement of the horns, the masks are called bibibudzé, Ekuku zokou, etc., and are associated with ancestors or forest spirits, “ekuk.” A tribe belonging to the Kota group, the Bakwele live in the forest along the northern border of the Republic of the Congo. They live by hunting, agriculture, and metallurgy. Practicing the cult known as Bwété, borrowed from the Ngwyes, which was accompanied by compulsory initiation rites, they used—at the end of the ceremonies, alongside zoomorphic elephant or gorilla masks—ekuk masks evoking the antelope, whose horns meet in a loop beneath the chin. Antelope blood was also used among the Kwélé for therapeutic purposes. The Beete takes place over several days and ends with the consumption of a medicinal dish that has been “activated” by the energy released by the dancing and songs of the Ekuk masks.