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Description
KWÈLÉ
Heart-shaped Ekuk mask with ‘wrapping horns’.
20th century.
Height: 35 cm.
An IR spectroscopy dating certificate (G. Matthaes patent) from the Museo d’Arte e Scienza, Milan, no. 5AQ-8648, indicates 1940 ± 8 years.
Light-coloured wood with a dark patina around the edges and a white kaolin patina on the inside of the heart-shaped face. The slanted eyes are almond-shaped and the mouth is merely hinted at through a thin, barely visible slit at the bottom of the face. The face, like the enveloping horns, forms a heart shape, typical of the Kwélé world.
Provenance:
Pierre Redouin Collection.
Bibliography:
Published in *Le Souffle des Esprits*, Les Éditions de l’Amateur, Pierre & Hadrien Redouin, 2012, p. 215.
Description:
This mask was used during the puberty rite of passage in the Bwete cult. It was suspended, rarely worn (it does, however, feature two holes for attaching the cord used to wear it, as well as holes for securing the camouflage raffia) and served to enliven the village in order to activate its benevolent forces. This mask represents one of the pinnacles of abstraction in African art. It takes stylisation to such a level that it becomes almost a pure geometric figure.
The mask’s soft forms, characterised by symmetry, balance and delicacy, and the beauty it exudes, make it a luminous and reassuring presence within the clan. During the Bwete ritual, the dancer would attach it to a fibre costume. The aim was to manifest the luminous and soothing presence of the spirit of the forest.
Resulting from the artistic fusion of human and animal forms, the face of this mask evokes both a human face and that of an antelope, whilst the enveloping horns are reminiscent of both antelope horns and the braids of a woman’s headdress.
The art of the Ogooué region rejects Western mental categories (animals on the one hand, and humans on the other, the two being clearly distinguished). Animism recognises the animal nature within humans and acknowledges the consciousness present in animals and plants. The art of the Ogooué unites, on a visual level, the plant world (the material from which the mask is made), the animal world and the human world into a single symbolic reality in which the spirit of one merges with that of the others to form a spiritual entity that transcends the whole.
See original version (French)
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About the sale
The Breath of the Spirits: The Collection of Pierre Redouin and Others
Auction location
Auction time
09/24/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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