Mask "kpan" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Baoulé · ID: 3037479

Description

wood, matt shiny blackish brown patina, kaolin, the actual mask face superimposed to a gourd-shaped base: displaying delicate facial features, marked by an elongated sharp nose bridge and sickle-shaped tattoo on the forehead, slightly dam., minor missing parts (left ear, coiffure), abrasion of paint, crack on the right face half (spread with mass);
at the “goli” masquerade, a day-long performance that involves the entire village population, four mask pairs appear two by two in a fixed order: first a pair of disc-faced masks “kple kple” (= junior male masks), next a pair of animal helmet masks “goli glen” (= senior male masks), third a pair of horned face masks “kpan pre” (= junior female mask), and finally two human-faced masks “kpan” (= senior female mask). Only a few, important “goli” dances include the final pair, “kpan”, which appears holding fly whisks as symbols of elderhood. Their performance is theatrically managed for greatest effect. When they arrive, it is nearly dusk, and women have been dancing and singing through the streets in anticipation, begging “kpan” to come. The women receive the masks as beloved personages, fanning them with scarves and dancing joyously beside them.