683 - Baule Kple Kple mask for the Goli dance, face disc with horns, Ivory Coast, 20th century

Baule Kple Kple mask for the Goli dance, face disc with horns, Ivory Coast, 20th century Wood, carved and with coloured patina, dance mask Kple Kple, the round face with relief areas shows a rectangular mouth with teeth and almond-shaped eyes with protruding pupils, two curved horns with notched decoration converging at the top crown the head, the mask with dark patina, the serrated edge, eyes, mouth and horns picked out in white with kaolin, eyes and mouth additionally accented in dark red, hollowed out at the back, good condition commensurate with age, partially rubbed, drying crack on the horns, H. 69 cm The Goli is a masked dance of the Baule of the Ivory Coast, which they adopted from the neighbouring Wan more than a hundred years ago. The Kple Kple mask is the first of four mask types of the Goli, followed by pairs of masks of increasing rank up to the Kpan mask; as the junior mask it is danced by young men in net-like costumes with animal-skin capes. With its flat, circular disc, the horns and the rectangular mouth it stands out from the otherwise naturalistic art of the Baule. The Baule express the gender of the mask through colour, black standing for the female, red for the male mask. The Goli is performed for entertainment and at the funerals of important men.