Africa, West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Baule-style carver / early to mid-1900s
Portrait Mask (mblo)
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Portrait Mask (mblo) as mask (Africa, West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Baule-style carver · early to mid-1900s).
This may be a portrait mask of a respected female elder.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this mask as Wood and paint.
The museum's collection notes: Male and female mblo masks, highly valued by the Baule people, are used in a variety of entertainment dances. Wearing elaborate coiffures and delicate facial scars, they are seen as portraits of known individuals. Their idealized rendering embodies core traits of Baule aesthetics, including lustrous skin, a high forehead, and downcast eyes, signs of good health, intelligence, and admiration, respectively.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtPortrait Mask (mblo)Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.