Senufo Kpelie Mask - Ivory Coast

Ritual mask carved by the Senufo people located on the African Ivory Coast.

Known as a Kpelie mask ,it is intended to represent an ideal of feminine beauty, though the mask is traditionally worn only by men for initiation, funerary and harvest rituals. The two appendages descending from the mask represent legs tethering the spiritual to the physical world.

Each Kpelie typically incorporates imagery from some kind of animal, such as an antelope, ram or hornbill (seen here). The animal represented corresponds to the caste of the ancestor invoked. In this case, the hornbill is linked to metal smiths.