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Helmet Mask

early to mid-1900s
wood
Overall: 122 cm (48 1/16 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1972.336
Location: not on view
Public Domain
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Description

The iconography of this helmet mask is comprised of sculpted renderings of different animal attributes including a ram's horns, a warthog's tusks, a crocodile's mouth, and a hyena's snout. Carved between the long antelope horns is a miniature chameleon that holds an abstract wing-shaped motif called mangele. Intended to impress and terrify, the sculpture's fearsome aesthetic alludes to the mask's power as an anti-sorcery device.
Helmet Mask

Helmet Mask

early to mid-1900s

Western Sudan, Ivory Coast, Senufo, 20th century

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