Bambara Bronze Miniature Mask

A spiky crown and a stern green face, mounted on a rod for good behavior.

This miniature bronze mask from the Bambara is Bambara, from Mali, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. Small West African bronzes are generally cast by the lost-wax method, in which a wax model is covered in clay, melted out and replaced with molten metal. Flat, elongated face with hollow features and a row of pointed spikes rising from the top, covered in mottled green and brown encrusted surface. It is fixed to a slim black rod and a square black base. It is 1.5 inches wide, 4 deep and 1.5 high.

Corroded, crowned and undeniably in a mood.