Face mask (Kpeli-yehe)

The 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.

Wood

14 3/8 x 5 3/16 x 6 1/8 in. (36.5 x 13.2 x 15.5 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.262

Provenance: [Stolper Galleries, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1962; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Not currently on view

Resources

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).

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