This important mask type of the Bambara is generally referred to as ‘elephant mask’ or ‘Samakun’. However, the mask represents a mythical creature ‘composed’ of different animals: an elephant with shortened trunk and elephant ears, whilst the round snout and the teeth derive from a wild boar, the projection on the forehead is a reference to the hyena mask of the Bambara known as ‘Suruku’.
Such ‘elephant masks’ play an important role in the initiation ceremony of the Bambara youth (both boys and girls) in the Jo society, which takes place every seven years. The mask represents the mythical being ‘Samakun’, who ‘swallows’ the initiates before giving birth to them again as ‘new people’. Initially, the mask hangs over the entrance of a small, temporary hut, in which the actual initiation takes place. Subsequently, it is placed on a shrine altar to receive sacrificial offerings, which are stuffed into the holes in the mask’s round snout. The present ‘elephant mask’ is made of hard, brown wood. It displays the characteristic canon of forms of this mythical composite being and an impressive old, partly shiny and partly encrusted sacrificial patina as a result of protracted use. With minor age-related damage (a tear to the snout and some minor pieces broken off on the ears).
First half of the 20th century; L: c. 39 cm. (ME)

Provenance: Belgian Collection.

Lit.: 'Bamana. Afrikanische Kunst aus Mali', Museum Rietberg Zurich, by Jean-Paul Colleyn, fig. 176; 'Bamana' by Jean-Paul Colleyn, fig. 25.