Nalu Baga, Guinea. Very large Banda dance mask featuring the features of various bush animals interlocking with each other with balance and elegance.
The lower part represents the open mouth of a crocodile, an animal associated with water. This work is embellished in various places with diamond patterns, enhanced with contrasting natural colors.
The large Nalu Banda mask was considered to be a very powerful mask used for protective purposes.
He danced in the rice fields to protect the farmers from snakebites. He protected the young people during their initiations and the passage of age class.
Depending on the occasion, he moves by mimicking different animal movements, such as the flight of a bird, the powerful walk of a buffalo and the waving of a snake. Wood, old brown and natural patina of use, mineral dyes, rafia, cut and studded iron, traces of internal wear.
Dimensions: 127x35cm
Provenance: Former French colonial collection, Tajan sale, Expert Monbarbon, Drouot, 1989. Bibliography: A copy of a Banda mask is kept in the collections of the MET, New York, under the inventory number 1978.412.307
