Gèlèdé Society Helmet Mask
Artist: Yoruba Peoples, Ketu Region, Republic of Benin (African)
Date: early-mid 20th century
Dimensions:
20 in. (50.8 cm)
Medium: wood with pigment
Place of Origin: Nigeria
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1970.52
Label Text:The Gèlèdé spectacle is a public display of colorful masks danced by men to honor elderly, ancestral, or deified women who possess heightened spiritual knowledge. All Gèlèdé masks consist of a regal human face, “the face of equanimity,” surmounted by a tray that serves as a stage for projecting the ideals of the Gèlèdé society. The blacksmithing scene above the queenly female face on this helmet mask is a metaphor for birth. The ability to change raw metal into useful weapons and tools is compared with the act of creation itself, the secret of which belongs to women alone.
Not on view
In Collection(s)