Mask
- Gallery: Room 25
- Culture: Côte d'Ivoire
- Made in: Côte d'Ivoire (Bondoukou region)
- Date: 19thC(late)
- Object type: mask
- Materials: wood
- Museum number: Af1934,-.2
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a wooden mask known as a Sakrobundi ceremonial mask, created in the late 19th century in what is now Côte d'Ivoire. You can see its oval-shaped face crowned by two elegant horns, with expressive patterns in red, white, and black painted across the surface. These bold colors and stylized features suggest a strong cultural and spiritual role.
This mask was once part of important ceremonies in villages near Bondoukou. The Sakrobundi tradition had lasting influence, even against increasing colonial pressures, until it was suppressed in the 1930s. This mask is part of a rare surviving collection of such powerful artworks.
It was later collected through acquisitions made in the 1930s and was brought to public attention in the 1950s as an example of West African mask art.
See it in person
Mask is on display in Room 25 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
New, in beta. British Museum support has just launched and is still improving: over 1,000 objects so far, with more added all the time.
