Helmet mask

Museum number:
5-6254
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21050006254
Alternate number:
4 (original number)
Accession number:
Acc.2288
Description:
“Sande” society helmet mask, “Zogbe” or Great Zo, of black stained gum wood; carved face with eye slits; four sections of incised [drawn symbol] divided by double vertical columns of triangles in relief; four knobs at top surround a four-sided stepped pyramid. Height 42 cm. Worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman’s secret society during ritual or ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of society.
Donor:
University Appropriation and Warren L. d'Azevedo
Collection place:
Liberia
Verbatim coll. place:
Liberia; Vai or Gola attrib. (purchased in market)
Culture or time period:
Sande Society [NOT A CULTURE]
Collector:
Warren L. d'Azevedo
Collection date:
1967
Materials:
Wood (plant material)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Masks (costume)
Function:
5.3 Objects relating to the Secular and Quasi-religious Rites, Pageants, and Drama
Accession date:
1967
Context of use:
worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman's secret society during ritual of ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of the society.
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Dimensions:
height 42 centimeters
Comment:
Examples of Gola Sande masks collected and documented in the field in recent years are related stylistically not to the preceding group of masks but to the second of the two Vai style groups described above. This and four other masks in the Lowie Museum collected by Warren d'Azevedo are reliably attributed to the Vai and Gola of Liberia and Sierra Leone and have similar stylistic characteristics including encircling neck rings compressed in front, the slight depression of the lower face, widely spaced ears, and more naturalistic facial features. Two of the three also exhibit the hairline indented around the ears, and all three have the wiglike treatment of the hair." (Phillips, Ruth B., 1995: 166, figure 8.11)
Loans:
S1974-1975 #50: San Jose State University (January 21, 1975–February 19, 1975), S1976-1977 #45: Presidio Army Museum (February 11, 1977–February 25, 1977), S1977-1978 #33: Presidio Army Museum (February 9, 1978–February 23, 1978), and S2009-2010 #7: SFO Museum (February 1, 2010–January 20, 2011)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 5 titled Helmet mask, accession number 5-6254, described as “Sande” society helmet mask, “Zogbe” or Great Zo, of black stained gum wood; carved face with eye slits; four sections of incised [drawn symbol] divided by double vertical columns of triangles in relief; four knobs at top surround a four-sided stepped pyramid. Height 42 cm. Worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman’s secret society during ritual or ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of society.Hearst Museum object 2 of 5 titled Helmet mask, accession number 5-6254, described as “Sande” society helmet mask, “Zogbe” or Great Zo, of black stained gum wood; carved face with eye slits; four sections of incised [drawn symbol] divided by double vertical columns of triangles in relief; four knobs at top surround a four-sided stepped pyramid. Height 42 cm. Worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman’s secret society during ritual or ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of society.Hearst Museum object 3 of 5 titled Helmet mask, accession number 5-6254, described as “Sande” society helmet mask, “Zogbe” or Great Zo, of black stained gum wood; carved face with eye slits; four sections of incised [drawn symbol] divided by double vertical columns of triangles in relief; four knobs at top surround a four-sided stepped pyramid. Height 42 cm. Worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman’s secret society during ritual or ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of society.Hearst Museum object 4 of 5 titled Helmet mask, accession number 5-6254, described as “Sande” society helmet mask, “Zogbe” or Great Zo, of black stained gum wood; carved face with eye slits; four sections of incised [drawn symbol] divided by double vertical columns of triangles in relief; four knobs at top surround a four-sided stepped pyramid. Height 42 cm. Worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman’s secret society during ritual or ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of society.Hearst Museum object 5 of 5 titled Helmet mask, accession number 5-6254, described as “Sande” society helmet mask, “Zogbe” or Great Zo, of black stained gum wood; carved face with eye slits; four sections of incised [drawn symbol] divided by double vertical columns of triangles in relief; four knobs at top surround a four-sided stepped pyramid. Height 42 cm. Worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman’s secret society during ritual or ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of society.
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Helmet mask, accession number 5-6254, described as “Sande” society helmet mask, “Zogbe” or Great Zo, of black stained gum wood; carved face with eye slits; four sections of incised [drawn symbol] divided by double vertical columns of triangles in relief; four knobs at top surround a four-sided stepped pyramid. Height 42 cm. Worn with black raffia costume by important woman of woman’s secret society during ritual or ceremony in honor of important persons; used to impersonate sacred spirits of society.

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