unknown Master of FANG
Gabon / or / Equatorial Guinea
Bronze, H 34 cm / 13.4 in.
Prov.: Collection Karl William Heiss, coll. 2007
Multiple-faced forms of these 'ngontang' masks may have two, four, five or six faces. They were worn in rituals of the Fang to praise the ancestors or to detect wrong-doers. Today they are primarily displayed on festive occasions. The most dominant pattern besides the narrow eye-slits is the incised arc or line on the forehead and nose.
Raffia fibres were originally inserted in the holes at the lower edge to form a sort of ruff.
