Ndoma Baule Portrait Mask, Ivory Coast, Wood, lacquered patina, Circa 1930

Ndoma” Baule Portrait Mask, Ivory Coast, Circa 1930 Wood, heavy wood with deep brown-black lacquered patina.A superb old hardwood dance mask featuring an elegant, elongated female face with the fine, refined features characteristic of Ndoma Baoulé portrait masks.Ndoma portrait masks are the last figures to appear during entertainment ceremonies at dusk. Commissioned from a sculptor by one or more admirers, these masks are fashioned to pay tribute to a member of the community and celebrate his or her exceptional qualities: whether the beauty and elegance of a woman, the wisdom and experience of an elder, or the dexterity of a skilled hunter. When they are performed, the wearer of the ndoma mask is usually accompanied by the person he or she is honoring (or a substitute), and may sometimes wear clothes belonging to that person.This person, adorned in his or her most sumptuous finery, twirls around him or her, perfuming the air, covering the floor with fabric where the dancer moves, and behaving towards his or her double like a mother towards her child, in a gesture imbued with veneration and tenderness.Here, the central crest hairstyle is framed by two lateral braids and topped by a turtle (which retains traces of blue pigment), while the forehead and cheeks are marked by protruding keloids. The slightly raised superciliary arches extend into a long, slender nose and a mouth revealing two rows of filed teeth, as was customary among women before the 1920s. The straight, very fine nose and prognathic mouth are other classic features of Baule masks.Also noteworthy is the superb brown-black lacquered patina.