Masque facial "tu bodu" (Buffle)

wood, minor missing part

This exceptionally beautiful mask with even facial features and finely worked details is an early commission for the art market.

Boyer identifies a formally comparable mask as a "tu bodu" - buffalo mask and assigns it to the group of "je" masks (Boyer 1993, p. 106, cat. 180).

The task of the "je" masks was to cleanse the village after a death and thus restore social order. But they also served to accompany the spirit of the deceased to its final resting place "iremofla" through incantations and dance and to raise him to the rank of ancestor.