Bidjogo Sawfish Headdress (Kaissi), Bissagos Islands, Guinea-Bissau

Galerie Suisse, Paris
Acquired by the present owner from the above circa 1992

Allen F. Roberts, Animals in African Art: From the Familiar to the Marvelous, New York, 1995, p. 125, fig. 37

This old and impressive mask is an elegantly stylized representation of the head of a sawfish, used in the initiation ceremonies of the Bidjogo peoples of the Bissagos Islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau.  Gallois-Duquette (in Herreman 2000: 160-161) notes that the "stages of initiation (fanado in Creole) for boys and girls required a costume appropriate to each age group.  [...] The costumes, which are made in the forest at gatherings convened by the elders, vary by type according to the wearer's age, and the particular head ornaments, animal masks, and other accessories vary depending on the island or islands and the talents of the sculptors. [...]  Men at the cabaro stage of maturity wear the heaviest costumes, comprising back ornaments, belts, bells, arm guards, and heavy masks carved from wood and painted."

She continues (ibid.: 166), the "impressive sawfish mask is worn only at the cabaro stage.  The creature's mouth is sculpted on the underside, while the eyes are on the back, which is the side most often seen by the audience when the dancer rests the weight by sticking the jaw in the ground, showing the spectators his back, trickling with sweat and usually sporting a pointed fin painted in contrasting colors, or a group of four engraved and painted wooden disks surrounding a bird."

Regarding this particular initiation grade, she notes (ibid.: 159): "At the cabaro age, which lasts for some ten years, the young man has the right to be stylish and even whimsical.  During this phase he wears heavy animal masks at celebrations to show that he is still only a brutal beast.  In the full bloom of youth without regular work, he enjoys the best time of his life.  He has romances with women and travels through the archipelago but his responsibilities increase as he ages."

Early Bidjogo sawfish masks are exceedingly rare, with only a handful of examples known.  A closely related mask is in the National Museum of Ethnology, Lisbon (see  ibid.: 170, cat. 129), and another previously in the collection of Ernst Beyeler was sold at Christie's, New York, May 10, 2012, lot 15.