Female Head

Mende people, Sierra Leone, African

  • Titles Female Head (Descriptive)
  • Medium wood and pigment
  • Dimensions 9 x 4 x 4 1/2 in. (22.9 x 10.2 x 11.4 cm)
  • Credit Line Gift of Sol and Josephine Levitt, 1991.1046
  • Work Type head
  • Classification Sculpture

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Helmet mask composed of long plank, heavy, hemispherical brow ridge, and tall, vertical, jointed horns. Small square eyes just below brow ridge on either side of the nose are pierced through the plank. Plank divided vertically by raised ridge extending from nose to raised umbilicus, located in bottom third of mask. No mouth is evident. Mask bears traces of symmetrical geometric patterns in red, black and white pigments. A sacred mask owned and worn solely by blacksmiths among the Bobo people; associated with the cult of Dwo.
Figure of a sacred, crouching Ibis, the body in painted wood and the head, long and curved neck, extended beak, bent legs, and feet in cast bronze with green patina.
Gold Weight in the Form of a Trumpet with Mandibles, Asante people or, Baule people, Akan group, Ghana or, Côte d'Ivoire, African, brass
Vessel, Matakam people, and Chad, African, fired clay and slip