A PAINTED WOOD AND LEATHER 'KANAGA' MASK

A PAINTED WOOD AND LEATHER 'KANAGA' MASK
A PAINTED WOOD AND LEATHER 'KANAGA' MASK
Mali, Dogon

99 cm high

Provenance: Vittorio Bellini (1936-2009) collection.

The 'kanaga' type mask is one of the most popular in the Sanga region. It was used in those ceremonies called 'dama', a mixture of dances and songs, which had as their aim the removal from the village of the souls of the dead and at the same time their celebration. The masks were therefore carved following precise secret ritual rules. In this context, the upper structure of the mask would represent the divinity, with the upper horizontal band symbolizing the sky and the lower one the earth.