Greek Letter Beaded Wall Mask, Red and White, Ghana

A round wall mask carved from sese wood in Accra and covered bead by bead in red and white glass seed beads, with cowrie shells set all the way round the rim. Three Greek letters, delta, sigma and theta, are worked across the brow in white beads on a crimson ground, and the eyes and mouth are cut right through the wood so the wall shows behind them. The back is the part worth seeing, and it is the second photograph. The mask is hollowed out and smoothed rather than left as a flat plaque, so it sits proud of the wall and reads as a carving rather than a panel. A braided cord hanger is fixed to a small metal plate near the top, which means it goes straight on a nail with nothing to buy. Malik says each mask takes him a full day to bead. They are beaded one at a time by hand, so the line work and the cowrie spacing differ slightly from one to the next. Carved sese wood, glass seed beads and natural cowrie shells. About 15 by 15cm and 5cm deep, weighing half a kilo. Dust it with a dry soft brush and keep it out of a steamy bathroom, since the beads are held in a natural adhesive.