Gouro Zaouli mask, Ivory Coast - Lot 11

Gouro Zaouli mask, Ivory Coast The forehead occupies three-quarters of the upper volume of this mask. The median rib joins a hairstyle divided into three sequences highlighted by perforations. Deep-set eye sockets dominate a triangular nose. The narrow, rectangular, protruding mouth features rows of teeth. Satin-finish grained surface, two-tone patina 30 x 18 cm Since the 1950s, theGouro, a group of southern Mandedu people in central Côte d'Ivoire, have been using a family of African masks associated with the Zaouli dance. Like the Goli masks of the Baoulé, Guro masks are made up of two zoomorphic masks, followed by a third anthropomorphic mask, the Gu, which is considered to be the wife of the Zaouli mask. The Gu , whose function is apotropaic, represents a young woman endowed with Guro beauty criteria, in particular facial scarification and filed teeth. The zaouli represents a mature man with a beard, represented by raffia cords attached to the lower perforations of the mask's contours. The Zamblé represents a bush animal, usually an antelope. Source: "Africa, the Art of a Continent" ed. Prestel(p.455)