A RARE KWELE CIRCULAR MASK, with pierced curved eyes within reddened borders, triangular nose, reddened brows forming a heart-shape about the whitened face, small lunate reddened mouth on the blackened border

Details
A RARE KWELE CIRCULAR MASK, with pierced curved eyes within reddened borders, triangular nose, reddened brows forming a heart-shape about the whitened face, small lunate reddened mouth on the blackened border
31.5cm. high
Provenance
Raoul Lehuard

Lot Essay

Lehuard's expertise, written on the back of a photograph of the mask, describes how, according to researches he made personally in the field, such masks were commissioned after the birth of a boy child. It represented a nature spirit who would be with the boy when he entered the bush school at about 18 years of age. The masks were not always danced so do not always show signs of wear, but there is evidence of them being held.

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