African Tribal Mask
I really have no detail except that my Grandmother went to Africa on a pleasure trip and was a collector of art work. She came back w/ this and had it on display in her home. When she passed away it was one of the items i asked to take home and now i want to find out more about it.
n/a
Inherited
Maybe
Hi Eddie,
Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.
Based on the photos and information provided, and subject to examination, this is:
A West African carved hardwood baboon mask
Possibly Senufo culture, 20th Century
The carved head embellished with fur
8 1/2 inches side to side, 8 inches front to back
CONDITION: appears to be in good condition
PROVENANCE: inherited
$500-800*
*represents a fair-market value for auction purposes; retail or asking price may vary.
Please let us know if you have additional items to appraise, and thank you again for using Mearto.
I uploaded a few of the inside. Let me know if those are good enough? Measurements are about 8.5 inches ear to ear and 8 inches front nose area to back of mask
Hi Eddie,
Thanks for the dimensions and additional photos.
This is a baboon mask but there are a few things that are puzzling me about it - do you mind if I show it to a former colleague who is a specialist in African tribal masks? It won't cost anything extra for you but may increase the amount of time to finish the appraisal, so I need your OK to proceed. Let me know if that's OK or not...
Hi Della! thank you for the response and of course you have my OK! I really don't want to sell this mask, i want to donate it to a musuem, but can't really do that w/out some solid information on what it is, etc.. any help is really appreciated.
Thanks,
Eddie
Hi Eddie,
My friend got right back to me - he thinks it's probably made by the Senufo, who live in West Africa in a region that encompasses parts of the nation-states of Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire (also known as Ivory Coast), and Mali.
This is not very old and if the fur is any kind of monkey fur, there may be CITES restrictions to selling it.
I hope this helps - let me know if you have additional questions etc. Otherwise, you're all set!
Hi Delia, yes, i'll take pictures and measure tonight.