Rare Kota Emboli mask, Gabon - Lot 127

Rare Kota Emboli mask, Gabon Wood, polychrome H. 51 cm Collected in situ before 1950 by a soldier serving in Central Africa French private collection A PLASTIC EXCEPTION by Louis Perrois While respecting the expressionist standards of Kota sculpture, this large embolized mask is one of the most astonishing known from the Ivindo basin region. The elongated face is dominated by powerful superciliary arches marked by four interlocking wrinkles, highlighting eyes with swollen lids. The emboli (also called mboto-mwa-bèmpoli) is a forest spirit who manifests himself at the time of the satsi initiation of adolescents, among the Kota, Mahongwe and Shamaye of the Makokou and Mékambo region (eastern Gabon). Numerous until the 1950s, these masks have become rare over the decades as village initiations have gradually been abandoned.