Lipico

A lipico or lipiko (plural: mapico or mapiko) is a wooden East African mask for ceremonial dances of the Makonde people in Mozambique and Tanzania.

Lipico mask from Mozambique

Description

Mapiko is a ceremonial dance originating with the Makonde people of Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique. Mapiko masks are worn during the rites of passage of circumcised boys. ^{[1] [2]} These wooden masks have been carved by master craftsmen, ^[3] made of soft wood and sometimes feature human hair. They represent human heads and may feature labrets or scarifications. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Gallery

• 
  Lipico with scarifications, British Museum
• 
  Lipico mask, UBC Museum of Anthropology ( Vancouver / Canada )
• 
  Lipico from the Makonde of Tanzania
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  Mapico dancing

References

1. Le Musée des arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, 1999, p.89
2. Kristian Fenzl, Peter Baum, Makonde: "mapiko", Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Wolfgang-Gurlitt-Museum, 1997, p. 178
3. Arts d'Afrique noire, 1990, p.42
4. Revue du Louvre: la revue des musées de France, 1998, p.106
5. Lopes, Mariana Conde Rhormens (2019). "O Mapiko de Moçambique: variações e transformações". Brazilian Journal of Development (in Portuguese). 5 (12): 32155–32164. doi: 10.34117/bjdv5n12-292 .
6. Conde Rhormens Lopes, Mariana (2015-01-30). Um olhar sobre as máscaras de Mapiko (Mestra em Artes Visuais thesis) (in Portuguese). Campinas, SP: Universidade Estadual de Campinas. doi:10.47749/t/unicamp.2015.944967.