Object Details
- Label Text
- Sowei masks are danced by members of the Sande women's society in Sierra Leone. All Mende girls join this society at puberty. Sowei appears in public during the time when young girls are initiated into adulthood. It may also emerge at the crowning of a paramount chief or during the funeral ceremonies of a paramount chief.
- Mende carvers, always men, studied and copied old masks. Sowei masks share specific stylistic features. Carved in the form of a helmet, they depict a female head with an elaborate hairstyle and a ringed neck. All sowei are stained black. This mask exhibits all these elements and in addition has representations of small antelope horns and Islamic influenced square amulets on the sides of the head. Its hairstyle, one popular at the turn of the 20th century, is divided into seven graduated ridges, running from front to back, with the highest rising at the center of the head.
- Description
- Carved wood black helmet mask depicting a female head with a high forehead and elaborate hairstyle composed of seven graduated crests with the highest rising in the middle. Three raised scarification marks run vertically from lower eyelid. There is evidence of insect damage, especially on forehead. The neck is composed of three carved rings. On the sides of the head are carved inverted small antelope horns and rectangular amulet forms with copper alloy stars.
- Provenance
- African trader, Liberia, -- to 1965-1967
- Robert and Nancy Nooter, Washington, D.C., 1965-1967 to 1977
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Mende artist
- Date
- Mid 20th century
- Credit Line
- Gift of Robert and Nancy Nooter
- Medium
- Wood, copper alloy
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 43.2 x 27.9 x 27.9 cm (17 x 11 x 11 in.)
- Type
- Mask
