Beautiful Wobe mask, from the Northern Wé master of the Ivory Coast 'Dyeponyo'.

The Wobe share a large number of customs and beliefs with the Guere, and are known by the common name of WE, the meaning of which is 'men who forgive easily'.

This mask, with its feminine features, has some important characteristics:

The bulging eyes in the shape of an open coffee bean, a voluminous nose with swollen wings, a large, expressive, sensual mouth with hemmed, fleshy lips presenting a triangular-shaped tip of the tongue resting on the lower lip and a very broad smile.

A conical forehead with tapered nails, a small beard under the chin.

The whole in a beautiful oval with a nice dark patina, shiny in places. Remains of kaolin around the eyes.

We thus recognize one of the masters of the Ivory Coast sculpture, edition of the Quai Branly Jacques Chirac Museum, following the exhibition at the museum from April to July 2015. The sculptor Dyeponyo (Wé de Tyan) page 145 to 147, whose illustration 187 and 188 show the same characteristics.

Eugene Bettra plinth

Provenance :

• Michel Gaud Collection (before 1990)
• Sale Sotheby's London 29/11/1993 Michel Gaud collection lot N° 42
• Bernard Dulon
• Eugene Bettra
• Richard Vinatier

Bibliography / edition for this mask :

• Tribal art from Black Africa by Jean Baptiste Bacquart, Assouline edition 1998 page 44 in photo N° 6.
• Catalogue Sotheby's 1993 London " The Michel Gaud Collection N° 42