Ivory Coast, Senufo people
Mask of a mythic protector (Firespitter)
Late 19th­early 20th century
Wood
l.: 101.9 cm
Primitive Art Purchase Fund, 1963.842

Masks in Africa are worn in ritual dances or ceremonies, and each one has a specific purpose. This mask is intended to protect the community from evil. Wearers of masks such as this appear in groups, after dark. The carved wooden mask is a helmet mask, commonly known in the West as a “firespitter,” and gains its power from features of various animals. Find an antelope’s horns, a warthog’s tusks, the jaws of a hyena, a hornbill bird, and a chameleon.