Helmet mask

Object Details

Mende artist

Label Text

Helmet masks called sowei or ndoli jowei among the Mende, Sherbro and Vai and zogbe among the Gola of Sierra Leone and Liberia are women’s masquerades performed by members of the female Sande society. The masks are danced in public during ceremonies that mark the transition of young girls to womanhood and also at the investiture and funeral of a paramount chief. However this mask belongs to a second category of helmet mask, known as gonde. It serves as a counterbalance to the positive values and aesthetic ideals exemplified by sowei. Indeed, some gonde masks began their lives as sowei masks, but were repurposed as gonde masks when they were damaged or were no longer used for their original function. Together, the two mask forms communicate a fuller picture of the social realities that are addressed through initiation and membership in the Sande society.

Masks are typically commissioned by ranking members of Sande, and it is likely that the elements comprising the mask reflect particular tutelary spirits relevant to the male carver or to the woman who commissioned it.

Though often adopting very similar form to the sowei, gonde masks are viewed as comical masks. The gonde masks that are repurposed sowei masks, such as this example, are characterized by the addition of white pigment daubed around the facial features, which suggests a departure from the ideal norms of beauty that characterize the blackened, polished sowei masks. Anthropologist Ruth B. Phillips notes, “When the headpiece is carved specifically to be gonde, the workmanship is often crude and the features made to look grotesque” (Phillips 1995: 90). In contrast to the dark black fiber costume of sowei, which completely covers the body of the masker, gonde costumes are wispy and insubstantial, they can be any color, and they often leave the body – and, thus, the identity – of the masker uncovered to some degree. Art historian Sylvia Boone reported that gonde masks are considered “disreputable … the anti-aesthetic mask … [whose] comical appearance and behavior mock Sowo’s rigid perfection, with the two masks seen as “contrasting yet complementary … representing the two poles of human experience” (Boone 1986: 39-40).

The donors of this mask, Mr. Leland Dresser and his wife Jeanne worked in Sierra Leone in the early 1970s, when he was the manager of a construction project in Benduma. His notes from 2009 indicate that his mentor on the project was Mr. Kebbei. In 1972, the two men traveled to Nyahun, Bumbe Chiefdom, Southern Province to visit Mr. Kebbei’s mother, who had complained about a leaky roof at her house. Mr. Dresser recalled that the leaky roof was made of thatch and that it covered a small wattle and daub storage room containing all of the paraphernalia used for the local Bundu (Sande) societies’ initiations and celebrations. Lying on the dirt floor of the storage room was the badly maintained gonde mask that Mr. Dresser had seen at various celebrations.

Writing his notes on the mask in 2009, Mr. Dresser recalled that when he asked about the mask, “Mr. Kebbei explained that it had once been an official Bundu mask many years before, when his mother (at that time, she estimated her age to be over 70) was a Sowei during her youthful years; a calculated estimate would be that this Gonde mask would be currently about 90 + years old as of this writing. Her position at the time of purchase was that of the Moja or leader of the local Bundu Society.” He identified the mask as gonde or yatiba.

Through Mr. Kebbei, Mr. Dresser inquired about the mask, asked if he could buy it, and negotiated a price with Mrs. Kebbei. Upon concluding the deal, he acquired ownership of the mask. Mr. Dresser indicated that the mask originally included long raffia fibers, which he discarded when they became infested with bugs.

Description

Helmet mask, dark in coloration, with white markings on the eyes, cheeks, and lips. The distinctive coiffure is composed of seven-lobes, carved representations of animal horns, and a decorative interlace pattern. The mask’s diamond-shaped face, edged with red pigment and a border of incised circular motifs, is defined by the high, swelling forehead, pointed chin, and delicately carved ears. Arching brows are counterbalanced by curved slits for eyes. A small nose and pursed lips lead to a pointed chin. The neck is rendered as three fleshy rings and an edge pierced with numerous holes that would have facilitated the attachment of a fiber costume.

Provenance

Mrs. Kebbei, head of the local Sande society, -- to 1972

Leland Dresser, purchased in Nyahun, Bumbe Chiefdom, Southern Province, Sierra Leone, 1972-2015

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Credit Line

Gift of Leland and D. Jeanne Dresser in honor of their many friends in Africa

Early 20th century

Object number

2015-6-1

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Mask

Medium

Wood, pigment

Dimensions

H x W x D: 36 × 21.3 × 25.1 cm (14 3/16 × 8 3/8 × 9 7/8 in.)

Geography

Sierra Leone

See more items in

National Museum of African Art Collection

Object Name

gonde

National Museum of African Art

Topic

Initiation

Status

antelope

Female use

male

Record ID

nmafa_2015-6-1

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys716cd17e2-bedd-467b-95d6-5e6f40d34e76