Description:
On offer from our personal collection is this striking sculpture from the Baga peoples of Guinea. Known as a Nimba or D'mba, such a headdress is worn over the shoulders of the dancer, with a raffia skirt attached to hide the identity of the wearer. The grand Nimba with its exaggerated features epresents a stylized ideal of motherhood & fertility, provides protection for pregnant women, & is integral to the agricultural welfare within the community.
With a somewhat unconventional stylistic treatment here, this Nimba has been carved from very heavy, dense wood. The face has been adorned with raised scarifications, decorative metal panels, & upholstery tacks. A double-plaited crest at the back of the head features a striated pattern, & the pendulous breasts bear incised patterns.
Overall condition: good. There is basic wear & tear, scrapes & abrasions, dry age-cracks, evidence of old insect damage (arrested), & an old dry age-crack has been indigenously repaired with a vertical strip of metal attached vertically to one side of the mask's 'body'. Powerful, eye-catching display.
