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Chokwe Mask, wood and fiber: $120.00
This is a vintage, hand-carved African mask, from the Chokwepeople, featuring a dark wood finish and fibrous attachments. This museum-quality piece is still adorned with hair and fiber, depicting the traditional hairstyle, echoed by modern box braids. The material is braided fiber covering a fiber core that can be seen exposed on the central row. The other net and mesh material is likely raffia palm fiber. Note the interior view with painstaking fibers anchoring the surface hair and mesh. The remnants of a net that covered the dancer\'s lower face are still present (to the view\'s left on the frontal and video view).
Such pieces are historically significant artifacts used in traditional ceremonies and initiation rituals. The age is likely from the 1950-1960s and was acquired by the collector from a costal trader, buying his objects from other trader(s) on the interior of Central Africa. This piece is valuable due to the unique use of hair and the raffia net at the base, showing that it was used in the culture from which it came.
This could be a dramatic feature for your home, if positioned on a stand with overhead spotlighting, as one might see in a museum or arty gallery.
The dimensions of this piece are 14\" tall, 8\" wide, and 8\" deep. It weighs just over 2 pounds.
