Mblo Female Portrait Mask

The portrait masks receive this name because they are supposed to be the “double” of the person whose face is depicted. These masks can represent the face of a man or a woman, usually of notables and of persons important for their rank or for their wealth. They are not portraits, in the very sense of the term, because they do not have to resemble their representative, but they do reflect the most important aspects of their personality, such as a gesture, a scarification or any other representative sign. It is mainly a question of idealizing the person represented. An important feature of this type of masks is that they always try to reflect the beauty and they offer the highest purity of lines of the Baulé style. They also receive the name of masks Mblo because they participate in the dance that bears this name always appearing the last ones to close the celebration with a gold brooch. These are festive and popular dances, gbagba, designed to celebrate some beautiful women present and who are supposed to be represented by masks. And, these will be forced to offer some present to the dancer or dancer who carries it. It is one of the oldest categories of masks Baulé.

These masks sometimes offer a combination of human features with some animal decorative element such as horns or birds in the case of male masks or combs in the case of female masks. Regardless of aesthetic criteria, there is no other significance.

The sweetness of the strokes tells us that it is a female mask. Dark rough patina.