Beautiful african gomintogo mask Dogon - Mali

Beautiful gomintogo mask. Old wood, beautiful thick black brown patina. Very nice shape. Two long ocular cavities symmetrically divide the face that is topped with two palms flat slightly curved forward. The gomintogo is a deer with palmate antlers. The first mask was carved from a farmer who killed it because the deer had devastated his fields. The farmer cut off the head of the deer and built into the altar hunter to shelter the spirit of the deer. This being done, the son of the farmer felt ill and the diviners advised the sculpture of a mask looking like the gomintogo. The objective was to provide material support to the vital force of the deer  to prevent it to wanders and takes revenge on the living people.

More info on Dogon