Lot No. 22776: Fine African Tribal Art, Massive Baga Nimba / Dumba Mask (Guinea)

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Lot No. 22776: Fine African Tribal Art, Massive Baga Nimba / Dumba Mask (Guinea):
$24500.00

Today you have a unique opportunity to own a part of an impressive collection of original African objects which is now being liquidated due to several unforeseen circumstances. Please check out all of our sales for other interesting pieces!
This mask is being sold as part of a private collection of African tribal art and artifacts which was collected by the original owner between 1960 and 1980. The mask was part of a larger collection which appraised in 2005 for several million dollars and has since been divided. Much of this collection has since been sold privately or gifted to different institutional organizations. Objects that remain from this collection are of very good quality, and some have been recently exhibited and displayed to the public in Georgia.
ALL OFFERS CONSIDERED -- Please use the \"Best Offer\" feature to end this sale early! Please inspect our high resolution photographs prior to offerding; as this is a liquidation of an estate, no refunds or exchanges are permitted. This item is large, and freight or other appropriate shipping or local pickup will need to be arranged, at buyer\'s cost. If you are not picking up, we can help to work with your shipper of choice, however this item is shipped FOB Augusta, GA, meaning buyer bears any risk of loss or damage after the time of pickup.Item Number: 22776Originates from: Baga (Bagga) Tribe, Guinea or Guinea-BissauMaterials/Comments: This hand carved, wooden Nimba mask is truly impressive. This piece was brought into the US in the 1960s by an avid collector of African artifacts. This is NOT recently made, less valuable \"tourist art\" that a lot of other sellers are advertising. For more information regarding the provenance of this object, please message us. A very similar Baga/Nimba mask recently sold at Sotheby\'s for 361,500 Euros (See Lot No. 60, Sotheby\'s 2014 arts afrique oceanie catalog). This is priced at a fraction of that price, for the sole reason that its provenance is not as well-developed.Dimensions: Impressively Large. 50\" tall x 18\" wide x 22\" deepOrigin Information:Today, the Baga people,60,000 in total, occupy the northern coast of Guinea and the southern coast ofGuinea-Bissau. They live in the marshy area flooded six months of the year, during whichtime the only way to get around is by a dugout canoe. They live in villages divided intotwo to four quarters, which are in turn divided into five or six clans. Traditionally, thevillage is headed by the eldest member of each clan. The men fish and grow cola nuts; thewomen grow rice. Spiritually, they believe in a single god, known as Kanu, assistedby a male and female spirits. The only fundamental ritual is initiation, which takes placeevery twenty-four years. Before burial, the dead are displayed in a sacred wood and theirbelongings are buried.Baga had richtraditions of multifunctional masks andsculpture, many of which were suppressed withthe advent of Islam. The best known of these is the massive Nimba (or Dumba)mask, with its great cantilevered large nose, a large pair of breasts, crested head supported onthe upper part of a female torso, carved so as to rest on the shoulders of the wearer, hisbody hidden in raffia fiber. The mask can also stand on four legs. Sterile women in theSimo secret society invoked it as the Mother of Fertility, and it was used at thefirst-fruit (rice) rituals, symbolically associating female fertility with the increase ofthe grain. This mask appears at the harvest and threshing of the rice crop, is worn bydancers at birth, marriages and other joyful ceremonies. This mask represented the veryessence of Baga dignity and culture. The Simo society utilized very large polychrome masks(often more than 5 feet tall), known as banda or boke which are used infertility rituals by this society, played a part during the dry season, after the riceharvest, and at funerals. It has an elongated human face with the jaws of a crocodile, thehorns of an antelope, the body of a serpent and the tail of a chameleon. Baga craftsmen alsocarve anok, a-tscol or elek, bird heads with human features that were usedat harvest time and funerary rites, also by the members of the Simo society. Every familyowns an elek, which is part of the family shrine, together with other objects: stones,vine twigs and bark reddened by cola nuts, dead scorpions or jaws of crabs, and a flyswatter, important for purification ceremonies and indispensable in the hunt for witches.The elek represents the lineage of which it is protector and the most visible sign.It punishes the guilty, for it a;one is able to pursue witches wherever they may be. Baga snake headpiececan be up to 260 cm high and typically display undulation, polychrome decoration andsometimes have eyes inset with glass. It is an emblem of Bansonyi, men’s secretassociation. This headpiece, also called bansonyi, presents a python standingupright. Bansonyi lives in the sacred forest and emerges when it is time to begin theboys’ coming-of-age rites. As receptacle for the most powerful spirit, bansongyiis believed to be the strongest adversary of sorcery and destructive forces that couldendanger the well-being of the village. Bansongyi also appears at the funeralcelebrations of the most important members of the community. They were held on theshoulders of a dancer. There are also other masks combining human and animal features.The Baga also producedstatues on round columns, called tambaane, tsakala, or kelefa: extremelylarge head, compressed on both sides, in angular, stylized construction; jutting nose;arms without hands, or hands resting under the chin. They were kept in round huts by theSimo society. Tall drums supported bya human figure are also carved.