African art: Beautiful Old Hand Carved Toma Mask Guinea - eBay, African, Cultural, Religious, Collectables. (end time 13-Dec-09 19:28:29 AEDST)

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African Art at Timbuctu to Tasmania

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Zoomorfic Mask, Toma People, Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea Border Region

This great mask is old, shows signs of its age and use, is hand carved from hardwood and worn painted trim. The patina is old and weathered but it is in good condition with some wear marks, fine cracks and a small abrasion on the chin. It was collected in Cote D'Ivoire in 2000, measures 77 x 20 x 19cm. and can be supplied with stand. (see pictures).

Settled in the northwest of Liberia, western Sierra Leone, and eastern Guinea, the Toma organized their political and religious life around the poro association. This society was, among other things, responsible for the initiation of young boys that took place in the forest, which is particularly dense in the land of the Toma.
African masks often combine animal and human features in composite forms that express the ambiguous boundaries between cultural and natural realms.
Here, a human face mask is transformed into a zoomorph by the addition of curled horns. This mask is a lesser manifestation of the deity, Afwi, and a consort to the fiercest of the masks, Landai. It shares many attributes of the latter - an elongated, flat face with overhanging brow, beady eyes, horns, and the division of the face into rectangular units. With its eyes partially shadowed by the brow, this mask must have been an awesome sight for the young initiates when it emerged from the forest brandishing a whip.
Spirits appeared as representatives of the supernatural world to give advice and to announce their intentions through masks. Poro, still present today in differing forms in individual ethnic groups, is a super regional society covering areas in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoiré. This mask symbolically devours Poro society candidates at the end of their initiation period, after which they are revived as full members of this society.

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Since its inception in 1989 Sidewalk Gallery has become a renowned Tribal Arts Gallery. Specialising in Antique & Traditional African Sculpture representing more than 85 separate cultures collected from 26 countries across Africa.

Ethnic jewellery and other items of adornment , both antique & contemporary, from every continent continues to astound all who enter the gallery.
The collection is spectacular.

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Item location: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

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