On view
African Art
Helmet mask,
20th century
Artist unrecorded
Bamana or Senufo
2016-47
This striking work features the broad, curved horns of the buffalo to reference power and authority. It may have been worn and called a sigi kun (buffalo head) by a hunter’s association. The form of this mask has also been linked to a society of healers composed of herbalists and physicians. At some point, this headdress split in two and was repaired with metal pieces that span its front and back. The headdress’s noticeably darkened surface may be the result of organic matter applied over time by ritual specialists.
Information
Title
Helmet mask
Dates
20th century
Maker
Medium
Wood, rawhide, metal, raffia, cane, feathers, and organic material
Dimensions
85.7 × 65.4 × 32.4 cm (33 3/4 × 25 3/4 × 12 3/4 in.)
deck mounted: 97.8 × 64.8 × 33 cm (38 1/2 × 25 1/2 × 13 in.)
wall mounted: 89.2 × 64.8 × 44.4 cm (35 1/8 × 25 1/2 × 17 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Museum acquisition from the Holly and David Ross Collection, with the support of the Fowler McCormick Fund
Object Number
2016-47
Place Made
Africa, Mali
Materials
Techniques
Subject
[Mamadou Baba Keita, Bamako, Mali by 1989]; [purchased by Galerie Leloup, New York, NY and Paris, France, 1989]; purchased by Holly and David Ross, Princeton, NJ, 1990; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 2016.
- Susan Elisabeth Gagliardi, Senufo Unbound: dynamics of art and identity in West Africa (Cleveland and Milan: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015), pp. 202-3, pl. 183
-
"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2016," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 75/76 (2016-17): 126-157.
, p. 142
