Gorgeous mask kwele - true - Bakwélé - Gabon (No reserve price)

The Kwele (or Bakwele, normally in the plural) are a Central African people, settled in the northwest of the Republic of the Congo, on the border with Gabon, between the Dja and Ivindo rivers. Some also live in southern Cameroon. They are related to the Kotas group. The Kwele are renowned for their mask art. Among the Bakwele, the village's internal cohesion depended on the prestige and authority of its founder and on the ability of its peacemaker. To reinforce it, they had borrowed from the Ngwyes the cult of the beete. This ritual, which lasted for an entire week, began with the departure into the forest of the able-bodied men to hunt, so as to hunt the antelope whose meat, accompanied by medicine, would be eaten at the closing meal of the ceremony. After this departure, after one or two days, the Ekuk masks would emerge from the forest and enter the village, inviting to dance and to the

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