Gye Nyame Adinkra Beaded Wall Mask, Red and Green

A hand carved sese wood wall mask, about 32cm long, with the Gye Nyame adinkra symbol beaded across the brow in black and white glass seed beads and a rim of natural cowrie shells. Gye Nyame is the adinkra you see most often in Ghana, on cloth, on gates, on the side of a bus. It means except for God, and it is a statement about the limits of what anyone can do alone. If you want one piece that says Ghana plainly to anyone who knows the symbols, this is the one to pick. The symbol sits on a ground split red and green, with a band of blue, yellow and white beadwork along the top edge and rows of yellow, orange and white across the lower face. The carved brow, nose and mouth are left as bare dark wood. 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.