DOGON, Mali, probably 19th century. - Lot 104

DOGON, Mali, probably 19th century. Antique dance mask featuring the head of a highly stylized, streamlined genie. The face combines, in a sculptural symbiosis, a long, plunging bird's beak tapering to the tip and a pair of erect ears reminiscent of a deer, accentuating the graphic tension of the whole. The surface, marked by the passage of time, retains a remarkable legibility of volume. Hardwood, missing and weathered. Height Height : 70 cm With its controlled abstraction and alliance of animal attributes, this mask refers to the great aesthetic principles of Mali's mask traditions, where hybridization expresses the power of invisible forces and ritual authority. The strikingly modern reduction of forms to their essentials places visual efficiency in the foreground, making this type of sculpture as much a dance object as a sign of prestige and knowledge.