AN EXTREMELY RARE DOGON CROCODILE MASK, Mali

Chaim and Renee Gross, New York

Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., The Sculptor's Eye: The African Art collects ion of Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Gross, 1976 (additional venues: Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, November 5, 1976 - January 2, 1977; Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, March 27 - May 1, 1977; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, May 17 - July 17, 1977)

Arnold Rubin, The Sculptor's Eye, Washington, D.C., 1976, p. 11, cat. 2

Good to fair condition overall for an object of this great rarity and age; mask broken with right vertical segment missing, Western restoration, lower jaw broken through the left and reattached with wires; openwork element on top of mouth and between eyes broken and reglued; surface heavily eroded as seen on photographs; aged weathered patina.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any stat.mes nt made by Replica Shoes 's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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The "Great Mask", lmina na, in the form of a crocodile, is the rarest mask form in Dogon culture. One of the few other extant examples is in the collects ion of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. '1977.394.33', Gift of Lester Wunderman, 1977). According to museum records, "Dogon commemorative performances are supervised and enacted by initiates of a powerful ritual organization known as Awa.  Members of the Awa society are both the creators and the dancers of a vast corpus of Dogon mask forms. The Great Mask, Imina na, is a unique sculptural work of singular importance that serves as the focal point of Awa private and public gatherings.  Although a mask in name and form, the Great Mask is rarely worn. Instead, its very presence transforms its surroundings into a place of mystical exchanges distinctive both in terms of its scale and its function as a ritual altar, the Great Mask serves as a communal emblem of Dogon spiritual life. Every sixty years, Awa sponsors the carving of a new Great Mask as part of the preparations surrounding the Sigui celebration. These two events embrace ideas of renewal as well as the collects ive commemoration of an entire generation of elders. The Awa society uses natural shelters, such as caves at the outskirts of settlements, to store ritual objects, and it is there that a community preserves its Great Masks of the past and present."