Kurumba Adone Antelope Headdress Mask Wood Copper Clad

Rare offering from a private collection of African art. Antique
ceremonial mask, not a tourist item. I have more photos available. This
piece stands and impressive 48" tall, imagine wearing that on your head.
It has intricate detailed wood carving, copper hammering in minute
detail with cowrie sea shells attached. There are some shells missing on
the curved ear. Earlier versions like this piece have large semi-circle
ears curving up to the huge horns echoing the curve of the chi wara
mane of the Bamana. These earlier versions were fashioned with masks
covering the face much like the masks of neighboring Dogon cultures.
This piece has the base of the headdress covering the face as a mask
with 2 eye holes for sight. Kurumba masks are traditionally used in
three events. They are worn during funerals to escort elders to the tomb
and to supervise the burial. During the dry season, the are used at
funerals to honor the deceased and to free the spirit to travel to the
world of ancestors. In late May and June, before the first rains, they
are used during sacrifices to honor the ancestors and the spirits of the
protective antelope, Hippotragus koba. The Kurumba are a small tribe
living on the border of Mali and Burkina Faso in Africa, not far from
Bandiagara and the Dogon people. They call themselves the "Nioniose".
The Kurumba produced this unique antelope headdress that they call
adone, The mask was only used by a member of a Kurumba clan
called "Sawadougou." Based on Kurumba mythology, Sawadougou came down
from the heavens (similar to the Bamana myth) wearing a mask. His wife
and children were "endowed with the features of the antelope, the hyena
and the hare. They defeated the evil spirits during the first tilling of
the land" (Paudrat in Heut p. 102).