Mossi Mask, Burkina Faso

19^th to early 20^th century

Wood, pigments

H. 106cm

Provenance:

Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933-2003)

Princess Catherine Aga Khan, Geneva

Publication:

Claude Savary, Sculptures Africaines d’un collectioneur de Genève, Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève, 1978, Cover and page 5

Jacques Kerchache, Jean Paudrat, Lucien Stéphan, L’art Africain, Citabelles & Mazenod, 1988, n° 848

Exhibition:

Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève, 1978-1982 (longterm loan)

Price:

sold

This significant artwork has been acquired by the Musée du quai Branly thanks to the generous support of the Cercle Lévi-Strauss members from the Amis du Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.

This well-known mask was for more than four decades a central work of the African Art collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, chosen for the cover of the catalogue made by the Musée d’Ethnographie de Gèneve in 1978 for the long-term loan to the institution and further selected by Jacques Kerchache in 1988 for his seminal publication.

Belonging to a very small corpus, this work of art is characterized by the perfection of the arc – rising impeccably from the face. The particular combination of rarity and sculptural quality has led to the inclusion of this mask into African Art history.