African mask

Grabbed this today. I've pretty much stopped buying African items as they all seem to be touristy pieces. This looks a big different however. The teeth look real! From an animal maybe? A fair few Google results stating Malindi warega, but they all seem to be coming from the same eBay seller.

 

burlap , used for the hair....?

@2manybooks

 

Hmm possibly. Waste of good coffee beans though.

 

it's a funky mask.......... but that's all I see ..

 

@Any Jewelry has the expertise on tribal patination, so I'm just chiming-in as a curious amateur.
IMHO (take it w/ a grain of salt)- The front of the piece,especially the clay pigment, fabric 'hair' look fairly new & I don't see much patina aging or 'polishing' wear from handling, body oil, etc on the wood.Reverse seems a tad older (maybe).
PS-I'm guessing on this,wait for AJ to get a more expert opinion- I could be way-off on this !

 

Okay thanks. I'm clueless on the subject.

 

Wait for AJ.

 

I can't honestly say it's even African...

 

You are wise to be skeptical about much of the African art floating around, at least if you are looking to find something genuinely old and made for use in the original culture.

I have not seen one like this before, but from what I am seeing on the internet I think they are probably a recent style of tourist piece, perhaps made in Kenya. The word "Malindi" seems to be associated with many of them (although this may be a case of everyone copying each other), and Malindi is a town in Kenya. This example specifically says it is from Kenya -
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=128106523498933&set=pb.100088987578209.-2207520000

Another seller attributes a similar one to Liberia - https://offerup.com/item/detail/66c91e65-e858-3738-8117-d55e54e8d81b.

The "Warega" reference makes no sense, as it is a variant name for the Lega people located in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I get the feeling that someone imported a container of these things with some vague identification, and auctioneers and ebay sellers have been copying each others' descriptions.

The teeth appear to be cows' teeth.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I am not seeing any age, and like @2manybooks I doubt its authenticity.

 

Thanks guys. Think I'll stick to teacups.

 

Good idea.