Kpeliyé'e face mask Senufo culture, Ivory Coast

Copper alloy
H.: 32.5; L.: 15 cm

It has the particularity of having a very slender face, a pair of openwork eyes, numerous facial scarifications over the entire surface – flat or in growth such as the pair of geometrically cut fins at the temples and cheeks – which can be associated with the idea of an avian figure. It has a pair of horns reminiscent of those of the ram.

The mask rests on two stylized legs while the top of its forehead is animated by a chameleon – its head oriented towards the face of the mask.

This mask refers to the eponymous masks dancing during the Poro initiation ritual.

No. B8 of the exhibition “BRONZES, MONUMENTAL MINIATURES”, second part