Very large and beautiful Bété-Gouro "Tohourou" mask from the Ivory Coast, part of the very important workshops close to the master of Gonaté.
Rare in the Corpus, these masks with a high and large forehead separated by a scarification in a median line from the forehead to the beginning of the nose, typical of southern Gouro art.
Scarification also on the temples and in a quarter circle from the nostrils to the corners of the eyes.
Mouth showing incised teeth, imitation of hair on each side of the mask by a monkey skin, having lost its hair, maintained by old nails.
The high forehead, eyes and teeth, as well as the hair additions, give this mask a fierce and dominant expression.
This mask is one of the largest known if not the largest.
Very nice dark patina showing a great age. 

Provenance : 
- Acquired in New-York City, NY, USA
- Eduardo Uhart Paris / Santiago, France / Chile, 1973
- Collection of Monsieur X. (= Albert de Baillencourt, 1908-1994) until 1977. 
- Alfred (Alfie) L. Scheinberg (1942-1992), NYC, NY, USA, 1981
- Guilhem Montagut, Barcelona, Spain (2017)
- Richard Vinatier, France

Publications:
- African Arts 1981 Vol XV, Alfred L. Scheinberg
- Expo cat X masks from Ivory Coast Barcelona Guilhem Montagut September 2017
- Tribal art magazine 2017 Brafa 2018
- In Gouro de vision d'Afrique édition des 5 continents by Anne Marie Bouttiaux 2016
- Plate 33 full page Bete Gouro mask collection of Brian and Diane Leyden New York
- For a mask by the same hand
- See also L'Art Tribal d'Afrique Noire by Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, published by Assouline, 1998, page 43 for a mask of the same type.

And also a very comparable mask probably by the same hand: The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, provenance Nelson A. Rockefeller 1979