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Helmet Mask

early to mid-1900s

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

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.

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Learn more about this artwork.
  • Title: Helmet Mask
  • Date Created: early to mid-1900s
  • Physical Dimensions: Overall: 122 cm (48 1/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Julius Carlebach, New York, Julius Carlebach, New York; Katherine White Reswick
  • Type: Mask
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.336
  • Medium: wood
  • Department: African Art
  • Culture: Western Sudan, Ivory Coast, Senufo, 20th century
  • Credit Line: Gift of Katherine C. White
  • Collection: African Art
  • Accession Number: 1972.336
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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