Object Details
- Label Text
- Gelede is a masquerade to honor and placate the "mothers," incarnate forces of thwarted fertility and spiritual power who are less diplomatically referred to as witches. Although men, appearing in pairs, dance these masks, many gelede masks depict women. Some are satiric or genre characters. Others have elaborate superstructures with figures of devotees, animals, exaggerated head ties (a woman's head covering) or even palm trees. This mask has a pangolin being attacked by two pythons.
- Gelede masks are worn like caps and tilted at a 45-degree angle on the forehead. The sculptor takes this angle into account when carving the mask. Typically gelede masks are polychromed.
- Description
- Wood cap mask with white pigment and superstructure in the form of crisscrossed pythons biting the hind legs of a pangolin, which is standing on top of them. The pangolin is primarily red and the pythons are blue and white.
- Provenance
- Diamonstein, -- to 1979
- Exhibition History
- Artful Animals, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., July 1, 2009-July 25, 2010
- 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 Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks.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
- Yoruba artist
- Date
- Mid-late 20th century
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase
- Medium
- Wood, pigment
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 40.2 x 34.7 x 38.2 cm (15 13/16 x 13 11/16 x 15 1/16 in.)
- Type
- Mask
