107 FIG. 24 (right): Mask. Galwa, Gabon. Wood, raffi a, metal nails, kaolin, red ocher, charcoal. H: 25 cm. Ex Armand Charles; private collection. ing feature is a fi ne triangle on the forehead, the black color of which also extends down the ridge of the nose. The chin beneath the red crescent-shaped mouth is also black. The almond-shaped eyes extend to the temples and have eyebrows encircled by eyelids of equal size. The Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco have a mask from the Dwight and Blossom Strong Collection (2010.36.3). It is of the oval type and represents the archetype of the inverted black triangle and the elongated almond-shaped deep red eyes. Unlike some examples, the bottoms of the eyelids are not painted black like the eyebrows. Lastly, there is a remarkable ovoid mask in a private Geneva collection that is also decorated with an inverted black triangle (fi g. 20). It has large globular eyes with rounded dark red eyelids similar to those seen on Teke/Tsaye masks and a small forward-projecting mouth. This example is similar to the mask exhibited by Dandrieu-Giovagnoni at the 2014 Parcours des Mondes and now in a private collection (fi g. 21). It has a rectangular forehead and large dark red eyes with eyebrows above them. Its eyes are painted black and the nose is blade shaped. FEMALE MASKS The two oldest female masks, which were collected before 1898, were published by Léo Frobenius.30 The fi rst, shown in fi gure 23, has a coiffure composed of multiple crest-shaped elements set in a horizontal band on the forehead. The two eyes are rendered with rectangular slits and it has a fi ne nose and a small rectilinear mouth. A mask in the Musée des Arts et Traditions in Libreville (MATG 1950/1960) displays the same characteristic coiffure of a small crest-shaped element arranged in a diadem and open round eyes. The mask in fi gure 22 has the same feminine coiffure as one of the ones in the Grébert drawing (fi g. 4, right). It has the inverted black triangle on the forehead and the projecting mouth seen on male masks, as well as large red-colored eyes. Another interesting female mask was formerly in the Armand Charles Collection (fi g. 24). It is rectangular with a white triangle painted on the forehead. The rest is painted vermillion, black, and white, and the eyes are small rectangular slits. An exceptional detail is the fi nely braided wickerwork decoration that encircles the face and hangs down to either side of it. This mask presents similarities with another mask in a Parisian private collection, which has a red triangle on its forehead and a black one at the bottom of its face. The forehead takes up half of the face and projects forward over the eyes, which are simple slits. ATYPICAL MASKS A brown ochre-colored atypical mask was formerly in the Nicole and John Dintenfass Collection (fi g. 26). It is unusually small (24 cm. high) and traces of white kaolin are apparent beneath the patina. The overhanging forehead is decorated only with a fi ne brown vertical stripe of the kind that is also seen on Tsogho reliquary fi gures. The eyes are slits, the nose is disproportionately long, and the mouth is in relief and shows teeth. Ears are present and are placed at the same height as the rectilinear eyebrows. A second atypical mask, formerly in the Italiaander Galleries in Amsterdam, is of noteworthy quality. It is illustrated in the Yale Archives (#12 813).* It is ovoid, colored black and white, with a forehead painted with kaolin and with a black triangle and a white stripe in the middle. Its “coffee GALWA MASKS
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