Mask Angbaï O Nyangbai Del Poro

These masks are used interchangeably in Liberia and Sierra Leone. They have all the same features. Flat face under a embossed front. Straight nose and lack of mouth. Often eyes absent or formed by two thin stripes. The separation of the forehead and face is clearly marked by the relief of the former. The patina is usually dark brown. They are masks of the Pore, male secret society of the ethnic group, implanted in various ethnic groups of the West African, especially among the Senufo. Participates in the ceremony of the candidates who are at the end of the final stage of the initiation to the Pore. The candidates are symbolically devoured by the mask bearer and after this symbolic death they are reborn as members of the pore.

The mask we present has a square face, like a chess board, but it has lost the kaolin pigmentation with which the white grids were painted. The braided ornaments of raffia or vegetable fiber that appear in the cisterns appear to have been added after the manufacture of the mask. Brown patina.