FANG Helmet Mask Ngil or Ngontangan first half 20th C Start Price USD 2,500.00 Current Price USD 2,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Saturday, October 04, 2008 End Time Monday, November 03, 2008 Location Denver, CO See more about 'FANG Helmet Mask Ngil or Ngontangan first half 20th C' Description Helmet Mask Ngil or Ngontangan Fang People Gabon, Central African Republic, Cameroon. Wood, white and red pigment, fiber, cane repair.Height is 20 Inches. First Half Twentieth Century Two cracks on bottom have received indigenous repair. Rarely do masks of this age and quality appear on the market. This extraordinary helmet mask comes from the Fang people of Gabon, Central African Republic and Cameroon. Occupying a large geographical region over an extended period of time the Fang have developed a cultural 'kinship' with the various peoples in the region resulting in a number of shared sculptural styles that have been identified under the general name of Fang. Well known for their reliquary figures the Fang also danced finely sculpted masks during a number of ritual activities. This well used example was worn over the head and the dancer peering out of the square cut eyes. A ruff of native grasses would have seated the mask on the wearer s shoulders. The long use of the mask resulted in native repair where cane was used to bind the damaged section of the mask. And the whitened face shows long use by the numerous repainting of the face with white clay or bird lime. The hair alongside the head is striking in its red color contrasting with the white face. The inner surface of the helmet shows long wear as does the lower edge of the mask. Among the Fang, white-painted masks identified with the Ngil society are known for their elegant abstractions of the human face. While emphasizing its pure forms, the mask's white color also marks its spiritual identity. Ngil masks have been described as having a 'heart-shaped face' due to the facial features emphasizing refined curves of the orbital ridges above the eyes and the prominent line of the nose that ended above a square mouth completing the abstraction of the face. Ngil masks were worn during initiations and known for judicial and social control activities in searching out sorcerers, a process that ultimately led to their being banned by the French colonial authorities in 1910. A later development among the Fang was the appearance of a mask known as Ngontangan, "the head of the young white girl" referring to early European women missionaries who arrived on the coast during the nineteenth century. This finely carved and rare Ngil mask has substantial age and obviously held significant ritual and symbolic authority for its Fang owner who took great care to repair the mask with carefully woven strips of cane. This is a classic form of Fang mask carving and would hold an important place in a collection of African Art. Further Reading. Binet, J. Societes de danse chez les Fang, (Paris, 1972) Perrois, L. Sculpture traditionelle du Gabon, (Paris, 1977) Perrois, L. 'Arts du Gabon, Les arts plastiques du Bassin de l'Ogoue',Arts d'Afrique Noire. 1979 Perrois, L. Arts ancestral du Gabon dans les collections du Musee Barbier-Mueller, (Geneva, 1985) Siroto, L. East of the Atlantic, West of the Congo, An Art from Equatorial Africa. 1995. **013332** All content, including pictures, Copyright Africa Direct Inc., 2006 Add Us To Your Favorite Sellers! Please visit our About Us page. SquareTrade © AP6.0 PesaMember Place a Bid!