Funeral Head mask (Kponungo)
Senufo horizontal masks are armed with confrontational features: baboon-like creatures with tiny eyes, enlarged teeth and distorted faces, disheveled costumes and restless behavior. These masked mediators often appear at the death of an important person, guarding the living and encouraging the deceased to return to an ancestral village.
Dancers looked out between the long gaping jaws and bared teeth of these masks. Wearing a mane, often crowned by a plumed bouquet and covered in an intentionally loose-fitting costume, the forceful masquerader completes this depiction of a restless energetic character by using abrupt movements. Kponyungo masks are controlled by the Poro Society, a men's age-grade society into which all men are inducted. Poro leaders are responsible for village order and use masquerades to assuage social disruptions. The death of an important community member may require masked mediators. With their unique powers, Kponyungo masqueraders open up the reception for the dead elder into the ancestral world and thereby help restore order.
Wood, polychrome
18 5/8 x 10 1/4 x 10 13/16 in. (47.3 x 26.1 x 27.4 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.261
Provenance: [Gallery K, Los Angeles, California]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1977; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981
