A Zaouli mask, the ancestor There are two categories of Gouro masks. First, there are the more secular entertainment masks, managed by artists' associations, such as the Gyela lu Zaouli (Gyela daughter of Zaouli) mask created in the 1950s, whose art is constantly evolving with society, and whose prodigious dance is now known the world over. And then there are the masks of ancient traditions such as Zaouli, Gu or Zamble, placed under the responsibility of a family lineage, owned by a specific individual, associated with ancestral cults, and requiring sacrifices, feeding "deities" or "nature genies", to ensure their protection. In the past, these spiritual entities implied the notion of trance for the mask wearer, who could be joined or "inhabited" by one of these entities, which the lineage's earliest ancestors had once encountered, hence the worship paid to them. During these trances, the Zaouli mask could detect sorcerers and drive them away, but there is little information in the literature on the ancient tradition of the Zaouli mask, which is quite rare in European collections. However, there is a consensus that Zaouli is the opposing force to Zamble, Gu's husband, when Zaouli is not present. Zaouli is originally Gu's husband, but he is above all the ancestor, and is found mainly in northern Gouro country, as well as among the Wan. Described and even sculpted today as an ugly mask, the origins of the founding myth of Zaouli "the ancient" seem to have been lost, the practices of a vanished cult. Its ancient tradition was certainly forgotten in the course of the complex migratory history of the Gouro, who were already driven westwards in the 18th century by the Baoulé, who borrowed the mask tradition from them. Or it may have been totally lost later, during the colonial conquest, when the Gouro "valiantly resisted the soldiers who massively burnt down their villages". To date, two fine Zaouli masks have stood out in the history of collections and in the literature, both having finally joined two institutions, one in the collection of the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the other at the Art Institute of Chicago, both recently exhibited and reproduced side by side, p. 178 in the exhibition catalog The Language of Beauty in African Art. The discovery of this masterpiece, undoubtedly the oldest and most beautiful of all, overturns preconceived ideas and preconceptions about Zaouli masks, and unquestionably downgrades those hitherto used as references. It sets a new standard in our knowledge of Ivorian artistic heritage, and Gouro in particular. Here, we rediscover the very origin of a transverse opening between the two superimposed planes of the mask, a characteristic of early Zaouli masks, and a sculptural concept no doubt also behind the creation of the glin masks of the goli Baoule. Also the triangle for the eye opening, here with white contours the color dedicated to the ancestors, reminiscent of the mask in the former W. Mestach and L. Van de Velde collections now at the Smithsonian. A superb engraved crest links the sharp-fanged mouth of the leopard to the elegant horns of the harnessed guib, as on the mask from the Art Institute of Chicago. But the notion of the hidden-shown by two successive openings on two superimposed planes for the gaze is treated here in an absolutely unique way, inducing the very narration of the trance, the idea of a being visible beneath the mask, who "dwells" within it. Many ancient masks have been rightly called "mother masks" by certain specialists, and while this term has often been overused, it is indeed the case here. The oldest masks trace the lines that define the archetype and serve as models for subsequent generations; they are the bearers of secrets and codes, and generally carry within them an intrinsic language, a real narrative. The oldest and most beautiful of Zaouli masks is reappearing today after decades. It emerges not from a sacred grove, but from a secret garden, that of Jean Roudillon's collection, and even if it cannot fully bear witness to its history, it bears witness to a past and bygone history, it is history. Gouro, Ivory Coast Wood, polychromy, restoration to one horn (broken and glued), original part, wear, small missing parts on the back.