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拍品專文
The masks of Bidjogo people were used during the young men's initiation process. Marie-Louise Bastin (1984: fig. 97) explains that these typically referred to land and aquatic animals. The dangerous ones such as the sawfish, the shark, the hippopotamus and the bull were worn by strong and mature men. The masks were symbolic of the need to dominate the bestial side living in every non-initiated being.
The extreme stylization of the sawfish's head represented with a simple triangle, the use of colored pigments and low relief sculpture allows us to see the wild animal.
A very close related example has been widely published and exhibited (op. cit.). It was collected by Victor Bandeira in 1965 and given to the Museu de Etnologia do Ultramar of Lisbon. It is now kept in the Museu Nacional de Etnologia (Lisbon, inv. AD 555). Another one acquired by the British Museum (inv. Af1983,04.1) in 1983 from Hélène Leloup can also be compared to the Beyeler Bidjogo mask. Bidjogo masks, and especially representations of sawfish ones, are particularly rare in private hands and in museum collections. The example from the Beyeler collection is certainly one of the finest known.
The extreme stylization of the sawfish's head represented with a simple triangle, the use of colored pigments and low relief sculpture allows us to see the wild animal.
A very close related example has been widely published and exhibited (op. cit.). It was collected by Victor Bandeira in 1965 and given to the Museu de Etnologia do Ultramar of Lisbon. It is now kept in the Museu Nacional de Etnologia (Lisbon, inv. AD 555). Another one acquired by the British Museum (inv. Af1983,04.1) in 1983 from Hélène Leloup can also be compared to the Beyeler Bidjogo mask. Bidjogo masks, and especially representations of sawfish ones, are particularly rare in private hands and in museum collections. The example from the Beyeler collection is certainly one of the finest known.