Im Inventar der Sammlung Galaverni wie folgt beschrieben:

Abstraction and synthesis combine with animal and human elements in this striking artwork. The face of the mask has been reduced to a flat surface surmounted by big horns which frame the two small human sculptures representing the ancestors. Traces of the original kaolin white coloring can still be seen on the face where the structure of the nose has been given an important high relief that brings out the square design of the eyes. An amalgam of clay and resin was used to trace in relief two lines that diagonally divide the rectangle of the face. Red abrus seeds were inserted in these lines, as well as on the nose base and around the eyes; presently only few seeds are left to record the old decoration.

The mask, called ‚loniake‘, represented the spirit who protebed the clan and was used by the initiates of the secret society „Lo“ (or „Do“) belonging to the small ethnic group Tusyan in Burkina Faso. A mask of this type (Barbier- Müller, Geneva) and with a bird head instead of the two ancestors, is shown on the cover of the catalogue­ book „Primitivism“ (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1984) together with a bronze of Max Ernst to point out how inspiring was the influence that „primitivism“ exercised on Western modern art.

Wood, cotours, seeds, h. cm. 78,TUSYAN art, Banfora region, Burkina Faso.

Cf.:
– „Sculpture Africaine dans les collections publiques françaises“, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1972.1973, p.124, no 342
– D. Newton- H. Waterfietd, „Tribal Sculpture“, Thames and Hudson, London, 1955, p.72