Amongst the Yoruba in Nigeria and in the neighbouring state of Benin (formerly Dahomey), there exists a ‘Gelede cult’. It honours women, mothers and fertility in general. In this cult, male dancers dance in pairs in colourful costumes, in annual large-scale processions. These masks are not worn on the face, but on the head. The dancers look out under the edge of the mask.
The present typical 'Gelede mask' is made of lightweight, light-coloured wood. The original element is the small man who is climbing from the back, to the top and over the forehead of the large head crest mask. It has all been carved from one piece of wood. Both faces, that of the large mask and the face of the small ‘climber’, bear customary tribal decorative scarification marks on their foreheads and both cheeks. Only both their faces were originally shiny and coloured a reddish-brown. The remains of a red layer are still discernible (by means of powdered redwood). All the remaining surfaces of the mask are dyed black. One age-related loss: a piece has broken off the right leg of the small ‘climber’, on the back (an old breakage). Otherwise no damage.
It is an original piece with a shiny patina on the front, on the inside (behind) on the edges and where the mask rests on the head of the dancer. Height: 24 cm; width: 22 cm; length: 32 cm. First half of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance:
Austrian private collection.