Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART: Zoomorphic Crest Mask of "Bansonyi" from Guinea

Collection: 
ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
Preferred Title: 
Zoomorphic Crest Mask of "Bansonyi" from Guinea
Image View: 
Detail of the head of the stylized snake
Creator: 
unknown (Baga artist)
Location: 
repository: Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac (Paris, Île-de-France, France) 71.1961.51.1
Location Note: 
From Africa to the Americas: Face-to-Face Picasso, Past and Present (2018 exhibition)
Date: 
20th century (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Baga; Guinean
Style Period: 
Baga
Work Type 1: 
ceremonial mask
Work Type 2: 
sculpture (visual work)
Classification: 
Sculpture and Installations
Material: 
wood; paint
Technique: 
carving (processes); painting and painting techniques
Measurements: 
171 cm (height) x 27.5 (width) x 27.5 cm (depth)
Subjects: 
abstraction; animal; decorative arts; dance; ceremony; ritual; snakes
Description: 
The Baga snake, "Bansonyi," normally displayed as an upright static sculpture is in reality a headdress representing the spirit "A-Mantsho-na-Tshol." With the help of a light framework, the towering polychrome decorated serpent is held on the shoulders of a dancer concealed beneath a raffia covering. The Bansonyi is involved in protecting male initiates at circumcision; it is used during droughts as well as appearing at funerals in groups as a male and female pair. (Source: Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac [website]; http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/)
Collection: 
Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
Identifier: 
7A1-PICASSO-FAFFM-BZC-A04
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.