African art > African mask > Markha Mask
This African mask with a face has a pointed jaw. The nasal ridge, rectangular, dominates a small protruding mouth. The ears and crest are embellished with beads attached to cotton fiber pompoms. The side stair motifs feature the braids of traditional hairstyles. Metal sheets, incised with parallel strokes and hammered with dotted lines, the specificity of the sculptures marka, follow the volumes of the face.
Spotted and dull, velvety. Oxidized metal.
In African art, the Marka , Maraka en Bamana, Warka, or Sarakolé, are Muslim city dwellers of Soninke origin, settled in southern Niger, scattered since the end of the Ghana Empire in Mali, Mauritania and Senegal. They now speak bamana and have adopted much of the Bambara traditions, such as Ntomo and Koré , initiation societies ...