Oracle tool, "galukoji" with a carved wood anthropomorphic mask woven with a fiber headband of feathers, slightly upturned nose with hollow nostrils, concavities in cheeks, beneath bulging eyes. The expanding accordion-like bamboo rods are connected by raffia knots. Traces of black pigment. Minor wear on the mask. A. LaGamma writes that "reliance on this particular divinatory technique probably spanned a generation of practitioners between 1920s and 1950s". "During a consultation, the diviner would lay the instrument on his knees with the head facing up. He held it by inserting his finger at some point in the crossbars while names of individuals suspected of crimes were recited. In response to the mention of the culptrit's name, the galukoji sprang upward, approaching the diviner's head." "Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination", Met Museum, 2000, p. 43. 9-1/2"H.

Provenance: Private San Diego collection. Ex. Arte Primitivo, auction 86, lot 535, 2017. Ex. collection of Jerry Spivak, Baltimore.

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