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Helmet Mask
mid- to late 1800s
- Medium
- Wood and probably resin
- Classification
- Mask
- Dimensions
- Overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Africa, West Africa, Mali, Malinke-style blacksmith-carver
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, African Art
- Credit line
- Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Combining animal and human traits, this example of a genre of mask called suruku, meaning “hyena,” most likely belonged to the Korè, one of six power associations that the Malinke would have adopted from their Bamana neighbors. The Korè is concerned with the circumcision and initiation of male youths into adulthood. The mask probably served as one of the symbols of the different Korè classes.
