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This Makonde mask has been vetted as authentic with signs of significant age and use. It is also a rare style.
Despite their appearance and patina, we believe the heads below were probably made to be sold.
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The masks below have been sold and are left here for reference and educational purposes.
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Photographs © Tim Hamill
MAKONDE, HELMET MASKS, Tanzania
These unusually realistic heads include strong, portrait-like features, real human hair applied in shaved patterns and raised facial scarification. Masks like these represented an ancestral spirit in initiation ceremonies and served to express their moral code.
"In older masks the coiffure consists of inset human hair and scarifications carved on the face. Worn by young boys over the upper half of their head, the wearer actually looking through the set of teeth, they are worn during the dances they performafter completing their circumcision rites of initiation. Boys are initiated at an early age in Mozambique, which may explain why the helmet itself is small." Bonham's catalog 20065 (African, Oceanic & Pre-Columbian Art, 2012)
Despite their appearance and patina, we believe these heads were probably made to be sold.
GO TO MAKONDE BODYMASKS PAGE 2
GO TO MAKONDE BODYMASKS PAGE (ALL SOLD)
