Description : of abstract form with a raised concave oval section at the back supporting the oval face with bilobed convex facial plane and pierced oval eyes with raised brims beneath the dramatically arching horn (?) passing in front of the face, vertical scarification lines, exceptionally aged blackened patina with traces of kaolin. height 12 3/4 in. (32.4 cm.) Provenance: Charles Ratton, Paris Georges LaPique, France Andre Fourquet, Paris Armand Arman, Vence Kwele masks are characterized by a concave heart-shaped facial plane with pierced slit eyes. The most typical form is a simple heart shaped frame. The type shown here is exceptionally rare and is one of the finest examples of the type known Like the famous heart-shaped example, formerly in the collection of Tristan Tzara (see Drouot, 24 November, 1988, lot 193) this mask was also formerly in the collection of Charles Ratton. For a comparison of other masks with a similar overhanging projection see Drouot, 27 May, 1982, lot 4, collected between 1934 and 1949, a second, formerly in the de Havenon collection in Museum for African Art, 1971:1881, and a more exaggerated version now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in MPA, 1961:71. This rare and unusual Kwele mask was shown in the film Les Sculptures Muertes Aussi, a film about LaPique and his collection, made in the late 1940s by Jean Rouch.
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