Rare and important portrait masks. They were not worn on the face, the master sculptors were inspired by characters or canons of beauty according to the requests of the patrons.
The portrait masks are described and published in the book 'Baule: African Art, Western Eyes' by Susan Mulllin Vogel, published by Yale University Press in cooperation with the Museum for African Art, New York, p. 134 -143).
Provenance: Personal collection of the 'Arte Africana' Gallery, Turin.
Ex. Collection arch. E. Volterrani, Turin.