Among the most iconic and well-known masks in all of Africa, the Kanaga are characterized by an extremely stylized face, few lines and a combination of masterfully arranged full and empty volumes, supporting a vertical and two horizontal stirrups, also made of wood, held together by leather ties, to represent the crocodile, a totemic animal among the Dogon, or, according to other versions, the conjunction of heaven and earth.
Used during dances for agricultural festivals and rites of passage, these masks were worn by dancers who whirled them around with extreme exertion of the neck muscles while holding them secured to the head by ties and especially by teeth biting a branch placed between the two holes in the lower side parts of the mask.
This Kanaga, to be considered young, but not manipulated or artificially aged, completely covered with kaolin and decorated with bitumen and traces of blue pigment. contains in the back of the head, almost hidden behind the vertical stirrup an old ritual iron and is therefore to be considered a "consecrated" mask.
A "handcrafted" restoration with no pretensions to camouflage was carried out more than thirty years ago in all probability by Ninì, the old assistant of Tiziano Ortolani, to whom this Kanaga belonged.