‘Zamble’ is a mythical composite creature made up of man, crocodile, antelope and leopard. More precisely, 'Zamble' consists of a half human face, with slit eyes framed by a circle, and a small, curved nose without nasal wings. Beneath the nose there is always the open jaw of a crocodile, with red mouth and red tongue, and with the large fangs of a leopard. The human part of a ‘Zamble’ includes a high forehead with typical tribal scarification marks, as well as a jagged framed hairstyle. Two curved horns of an antelope always protrude up from this hairstyle. ‘Zamble’ is male and serious. He always appears with two additional mask types of the Guro people: with ‘Gu’, his beautiful, gentle wife, and with ‘Zauli’, an animal mask with long antelope horns. In this triad, ‘Zauli’ embodies the wild clown. These three masks perform together at all feasts, initiations, weddings and especially at burials and feasts in commemoration of the dead of the Guro people, in the central Ivory Coast. The present 'Zamble-mask', the most important type of the three, is perfectly formed, and coloured black, red and white. This mask is visibly old and has often ‘danced’. It displays on the outside and especially on the inside an excellent, smooth, shiny usage patina. The horns are slightly chipped above, and there is a small fracture on the back rim - otherwise no age-related damage. At the left, outer rim of the mask an old collection inscription can be read: ‘C. I.’ [for Cote d’Ivoire] / ‘Z’ [for Zamble] and the year ‘1967’. H: 38 cm; W: 13 cm. First third of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance: According to the consignor in Paris, the present item was purchased from an old private collection. Currently: Austrian Private Collection.

Lit.: ‘Die Kunst der Guro. Elfenbeinküste’ by Eberhard Fischer and Lorenz Homberger, catalogue, Rietberg Museum, Zurich, fig. 45-58 and 126-142.