GOLA-MENDE, LIBERIA/SIERRA LEONE

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The face and ringed neck of this helmet mask is most often associated with Mende art, sometimes leading to an erroneous identification as a woman’s mask (sowei) for the Sande society. It is, however, a mask used by male members of the Poro society, known as borwu among the Vai and gbetu among the Gola. Both names mean ‘long neck,’ referring to female beauty ideals of a long and elegant neck as well as soft rings suggesting health and well-being. The elaborate coiffure, with packed rows of dense braids, also indicates a refined woman of social status.

The gbetu is an entertainment mask that performs vigorous acrobatic dances, growing very tall and then shrinking low to the ground, turning cartwheels and other tricks while wearing a full raffia costume. In contrast with the strident energy of the dance is the beautiful serenity of the face carved into the bell-shaped helmet, showing a gently domed forehead over calm, semi-closed eyes and diminutive nose and mouth. Peaceful and neotenous, its rounded features are surrounded and framed by the angular, geometric forces of the coiffure and the stacked bands that encircle the head and neck. Gbetu masks are rare, and rarer still are gbetu with a face on both the finial and the helmet.

In good condition. Repair to base of neck and old repairs to sides of the mask.

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