Sankofa Bird Beaded Wall Mask, Blue and Red, Ghana

A hand carved sese wood wall mask, about 32cm long, beaded all over in tiny glass seed beads with the Sankofa bird across the brow and a rim of natural cowrie shells. The bird is looking back over its shoulder, and that is the whole point of it. Sankofa is an Akan adinkra sign from Ghana and the saying behind it is that there is nothing wrong with going back for what you have left behind. It is a piece for a wall you walk past every day, a hallway or a stairwell, where people come close enough to see that the pattern is thousands of separate beads and not paint. The bird is worked in royal blue with a yellow beak, set against red on one side and turquoise on the other, with green, yellow, black and white banding across the lower face. The carved brow, nose and lips are left as bare dark wood so the carving still reads through the colour. Natural cowrie shells run down both edges. Every bead is laid on by hand, one at a time. The back is hollowed with a chisel and left unfinished, and a braided cord hanger is fixed to a metal plate, so it arrives ready to hang. Dust it with a dry soft brush. Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from damp, and do not use cleaning fluid on the beadwork.