Wood mask, 'Baoule Spirit Dance'

Seemingly surprised, a watchful personage bares its teeth. Horns crown the circular mask, and intricate geometric patterns surround it. Depicted in hand-carved sese wood, a minor spirit masks young men dancers from the Baoule tribe of the Ivory Coast. Victor Yao Delanyo recreates a design used in the Goli spirit dance, as men of junior rank dance before their seniors.