Antique African Senufo Masked Crocodile Shutter

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This 52-inch shutter door is a two-plank Senufo piece from the Korhogo region of northern Côte d'Ivoire, carved from dense … Read more This 52-inch shutter door is a two-plank Senufo piece from the Korhogo region of northern Côte d'Ivoire, carved from dense hardwood with an intact upper pivot lug that shows it was built to swing on a peg rather than hung on hinges. The upper register carries three relief face masks with inward-curving horns and almond eyes, a form tied to the Poro society traditions of the region. Below that sits a central diamond field built from four converging arcs meeting at a raised boss, with faint traces of blue pigment still visible in the carved recesses. Fitted over the central field is a fully sculptural crocodile, carved in the round with cross-hatched scaling, functioning as the sliding lock bar. A lower band carries a repeating linked motif, likely paired reptile forms echoing the crocodile above. The patina is a smoke-cured golden amber deepening to dry tobacco brown. At just under two feet wide and under five feet tall, this reads as a dense, sculptural wall piece rather than a full entrance door, well suited to a hallway, a reading nook, or grouped with other small carved panels on a gallery wall•

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