Helmet Mask

Former TitleMale Ancestral-Spirit Mask

CultureMakonde peoples

Date19th century

MediumWood, human hair, beeswax, and stain

DimensionsOverall: 13 × 8 × 11 3/4 inches (33.02 × 20.32 × 29.85 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund

Object number87-35

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

African Art

Terms

Gallery Label

This ancestral spirit mask, with its expressive features and commanding presence, depicts a respected male leader or elder. It would have been worn following rites to initiate young boys and girls into adulthood. The mask's finely pointed teeth and facial scarification, described by lines of beeswax, are vivid reminders of the painful physical transformations that the young initiates would have endured. The ancestral spirit's Islamic cap alludes to Yao involvement in the lucrative 18th- and 19th-century trade with Muslims on the Swahili coast, an important source of wealth and power.

Provenance

Private collection, Switzerland [1];

Klejman [2];

With Pierre Dartevelle (b. 1940), Brussels, Belgium [3];

Purchased from Dartevelle by Marc Leo Félix, Brussels, Belgium, stock no. FC78, by March 1987;

Purchased from Félix by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1987.

NOTES:

[1] According to dealer Marc Leo Félix, in documentation provided at the time of the object’s purchase, NAMA curatorial files. The identity of the collection is currently unknown.

[2] According to Félix, in email correspondence with MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, February 13, 2023, NAMA curatorial files. There a several collectors and dealers with this name; it is currently unknown which Klejman had this object.

[3] Ibid.

Published References

“Helmet mask,” The Kansas City Star (January 29, 1989), 4-I.

Newsletter (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, February 1989): cover, 2, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 84, (repro.).

Joyce M. Youmans, “African Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,” African Arts 33, no. 4 (Winter 2000), 48, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 248, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.