African Art
(Private collection Guy Pouzol)
Casque Punu – Gabon – marriage and healing mask
The Punu helmet mask (or Okuyi/Mukudji mask) is a masterpiece of Gabonese tribal art, renowned for its features of absolute serenity that sometimes evoke the aesthetic of Japanese Noh theater masks.
Dimensions: 44 x 32 x 27 cm
Price : sold
Mask Baga - Nimba - Sierra Leone
Baga mask also called (Nimba) found in Guinea and Sierra Leone in West Africa. Female mask worn by women. Breasts represent fertility (women and the earth too) Use also during the ceremonies of marriages and bereavements. The copper spikes showed the rank the person had in the tribe. It was kept in a secret room in the house.
Dimensions: 82 x 24 x 22 cm
Price : 2 500€
Punu Mask
The Punu mask from Gabon, topped with a bird, is a remarkable and rarer variant of the traditional Okuyi (or Mukudj) mask. These masks, created by the Punu people—who originate from the Ngounié and Nyanga regions of southern Gabon—embody the spirits of female ancestors who have returned from the beyond to bless or protect the living.
Dimensions: 35 x 20 x 17 cm
Price : 2 900€
Songye Mask
This is the famous Kifwebe mask (plural: bifwebe), an iconic piece of art from the Songye people (located in the southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo).
These masks are renowned for their unique geometric and Cubist aesthetic, which strongly influenced Western modern art.
Dimensions : 65 x 25 x 20 cm
Price : 1 800€
Masque Yuruba
Mask found in West Africa, Nigeria, on the right bank of the Niger River, also in Benin, Ghana and Togo.
This mask belonged to a secret society called Genere.
The bird on the head means "Mother" and the face covered with a yellow patina which signifies the importance of the rank that the woman who carried it had in this tribe.
Female mask.
Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 21 cm
Price : 1 500€
Kota Plaque – Gabon – Object of divination and enthronement
The Kota plaque from Gabon (most commonly referred to as a reliquary figure or mbulu ngulu) is not merely a decorative plaque but a powerful spiritual guardian—clad in copper or brass—that plays a central role in ancestor worship (*Bwete*), divination rituals, and the preservation of political authority during the enthronement of chiefs.
Dimensions: 60 x 32 x 4 cm
Price : 5 000€
