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Face mask (Kpeli-yehe)
Face mask (Kpeli-yehe)

Face mask (Kpeli-yehe)

Label TextThe Senufo consider hornbills to be a reservoir of ancient knowledge, as they were one of the first beings created in primordial times. In actuality, they are large birds who, when they appear on the outskirts of town, tend to stroll side by side, like people. A human and a hornbill join foreheads in this mask to signal the presence of a wise character.
Object number81.17.262
Provenance[Stolper Galleries, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1962; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981
Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, July 10 - Sept. 1, 1968 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Oct. 10 - Dec. 1, 1968). Text by William Fagg. Cat. no. 16. Los Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., p. 124, reproduced fig. H-10 (as mask).
Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
Dimensions14 3/8 x 5 3/16 x 6 1/8 in. (36.5 x 13.2 x 15.5 cm)
MediumWood
Face mask (Kpelie-yehe)
Object number: 81.17.259
Face Mask with Hornbill Bird Crest (Kpelie)
19th century?
Object number: 67.110
Photo: Scott Leen
Object number: 2005.65
Lax'keit (human face mask)
ca. 1850
Object number: 91.1.118
Photo: Paul Macapia
First Nations, Nuu-chah-nulth, Hesquiat
ca. 1890
Object number: 91.1.23
Photo: Paul Macapia
First Nations, Nuxalk
ca. 1880
Object number: 91.1.34
Photo: Paul Macapia
First Nations, Nuxalk
ca. 1880
Object number: 91.1.35
Photo: Paul Macapia
First Nations, Nuxalk
ca. 1880
Object number: 91.1.36
Photo: Susan Cole
Haisla
ca. 1830
Object number: 91.1.39
Ho'koma (Human face mask)
First Nations, Nuu-chah-nulth, Hesquiat
1979
Object number: 92.173