BASSA, LIBERIA

This helmet mask evokes idealized feminine beauty and, like other masks of this type known as sowei developed in the region, would have been worn by leaders of the all-female society during the initiation of young women into adulthood. Within Mende and Sherbro cultures in Sierra Leone, or Bassa and Vai cultures from neighboring Liberia, helmet masks are carved with symbolic features that endow wearers with spiritual power. Senior members of the Sande initiation society may have worn this work in performances.

As a representation of the guardian spirit of Sande, a powerful pan-ethnic women's association responsible for education and moral development, the work alludes to an idealized female beauty. Worn at performances to celebrate the completion of the young initiates' training period, these masks are finely carved to convey admired feminine features: an elaborate coiffure, a smooth broad forehead, narrowly slit eyes, as mall, composed mouth, and a ringed neck. The sides of the head have shell-like patterns.

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