mask
- Museum number
- Af1957,07.1.a-b
- Description
-
Carved mask (nimba) made of wood (a) in the form of a female bust with four legs. Raffia leaf fringe attached (b).
- Production date
- 20thC early
- Dimensions
-
Height: 124 centimetres
-
Width: 35 centimetres
-
Depth: 55 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Registered as a "Nimba mask from the Simo secret society, Baga tribe, French Guinea."
Published by W B Fagg in the British Museum Quarterly, XXIV 1961, pp.61-5, as one of four or five known Baga masks of this size and quality. The raphia dress may may not belong to this example, but is from the Baga. It conceals the four legs on which the mask can stand. Since the mask weighs 80 lbs, this gives the dancer much-needed support.
Masks such as this were carried on the head of the wearer who looks out through a hole between the breasts. It is associated with agricultural increase and is worn at times of sowing and harvesting by members of the Simo society.
- Location
- On display (G25/dc3)
- Condition
- Good.
- Acquisition date
- 1957
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased from Charles Ratton in Paris.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1957,07.1.a-b