Babanki elephant mask, Cameroon Wood, pigments H.... Lot 19

Babanki elephant mask, Cameroon Wood, pigments H. 108 cm Bibliography : Notué Jean-Paul, Perrois Louis, Rois et sculpteurs de l'Ouest Cameroun : la panthère et la mygale, Éditions Karthala, 1997. Notué Jean-Paul, La symbolique des arts Bamileke (Ouest Cameroun) : approche historique et anthropologique, PhD thesis under the supervision of Professor Jean Devisse, Paris, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, 1988. Grace and majesty emanate from this carved crest representing a stylized elephant's head. The artist has produced a work that is both realistic and imbued with symbolism, characterized by the simplification and amplification of the subject's forms. Favoring the purity of its features and the finesse of its modeling, the elephant thus depicted "embodies the symbolic synthesis of nature's untamed forces, which can be harnessed and exploited for the benefit of the community". A symbol of strength, power and wealth, associated with rain and fertility, the So elephant is the royal emblem par excellence, a model of strength and intelligence to which the Fon king-priest refers. The composition is organized around the long, straight trunk, delicately enveloped by the curved tusks. The face, with slanted almond-shaped eyes enhanced with ochre pigments, is framed by large ovoid ears. The patina is brilliantly black, with lovely honey-brown nuances highlighting the contours - in particular, the long midrib running from the top of the skull to the tip of the trunk, and the rounded ears.