Bassa Mask

Creator

Preview

Culture

Bassa people

Medium

Wood

Dimensions

3 9/16 x 1 10/16 x 1 11/16 in. ( 9 x 4.1 x 4.2 cm)
0.907 oz. (25.7 g)

Credit Line

Bequest of David P. Harris ('46), 2020

Accession Number

2020.12

Provenance

Purchased by David P. Harris ('46) from Endicott-Guthaim Gallery in New York on March 5, 1976.

Condition

There is a small chip at the left hairline.

References

Brad Hostetler, with Ani Parnagian, "From Private to Public: The Collection of David P. Harris," in Ethiopian Objects in the Blick-Harris Study Collection: Art, Context, and the Persistence of Form, eds. Brad Hostetler, and Lynn Jones, Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 5–25. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

The dark brown Bassa mask displays the typical "quarter-moon" configuration, vertical plaits extending down to the forehead, and protruding open lips.