This type of helmet or crest mask is used among the Kota (or Bakota) people in northeastern Gabon (Ivindo region) during the initiation of boys, funerals of important men and against witchcraft. The present helmet mask displays the typical stylistic features of an ‘Emboli mask’: a relatively thin piece made of light-coloured, hard wood. The large face section of the mask was originally coloured in white with kaolin. The large eyebrow arches are doubled, ending in small ears to the left and to the right and in a small, triangular nose at the centre. Both eyelids are very prominent above rectangular, flat 'eyes'. Five vertical grooves on each cheek signify scarification marks, the mouth is just a small, short slit. The head is surmounted by two intersecting crests over a sketched linear hairstyle. This feature is characteristic of the 'Emboli mask'. The higher middle crest is supposed to represent a hair crest of a gorilla. Both high crests, the hairstyle, eyebrows, ears and nose are dyed black and brown. The mask is pierced at the lower edge and along the edges of both crests (a hole torn). It displays good usage patina (on the outside as well as on the inside!) and two original repairs: A tear in the left side crest was ‘sewn’ with a string made of braided plant fibres. A tear on the right face half was glued with dark resin and painted over with kaolin on the outside (visible from the inside). Minor age damage: scuffed white kaolin on the face, a small hole on the left eye, small pieces broken off at the lower edge. A formally good and stylistically correct, yet late piece. First half to mid-20th century; H: 51.5 cm. (ME)

Provenance: German private collection.

Literature: 'Ancestral art of Gabon' by Louis Perrois, ill. p. 55, p. 78, 79, p. 194; 'Die Kunst des schwarzen Afrika' by Kerchache, Paudrat, Stephan, ill. 156; 'Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture' by K.-F. Schädler, ill. 2, p. 342; 'African Art in American Collections' by Robbins & Nooter, ill. 891.