Lot 26 Dα

The "jow" initiation societies of the Bamana and Maninka were concerned with rites of passage; "Ntomo" for the uncircumcised children and "Korè" for the next stage in their development in which the boys are ritually killed and are resuscitated as adults. The masks of the "korè" comprise a number of zoomorphic masks including "Surukuw" (hyenas), "Jaraw" (lions) and "Sulaw" (monkeys). It is difficult to identify with certainty the type of animal represented by the present mask. It has the intersecting painted red lines seen on a number of Bamana lion masks such as that sold at Lempertz on 29 January 2020 as lot 42. A mask very close in style to the present example was formerly owned by Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe (see "Tribal Art Magazine", IX:2, Summer 2004, p.10) and was sold at Christie’s Paris on 19 June 2014 as lot 212.