DOGON Mali, region of Bandiagara h 76 cm “Sirige”... Lot 28

DOGON Mali, region of Bandiagara h 76 cm “Sirige” mask. Hardwood with a natural glaze, painted with a white mixture, and a hood made of woven rope hood. Though this sculpture lacks its upper half, which is now missing, this mask was the symbolic representation of the tallest and most beautiful of all the houses in the village.It is sculpted in a classic rectangular shape in which vertical cracks for the eyes dominate. The two large horns, just like the zigzag engravings on the edges of the side, evoke the anatomical features of the animals which lived in the region.The rope hood was used to wrap around the head of the dancer who, once wearing it, could keep it stuck to his face by biting on the wood with his teeth in the large holes on the side. PROVENANCE Galleria Franco Monti, Milan (1954); Former collection of Emilio Iogna, Milan (1958); Private collection of heirs; LITERATURE LANGLOIS PIERRE “Art soudanais: Tribus Dogons” Brussels & Lille 1954, Librairie-Galerie Marcel Evrard, pag. 44, fig. 31 (1088); IMPERATO PASCAL JAMES "Dogon Cliff Dwellers" New York 1978, pag. 44, fig. 2 (66);