Collections: Arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands: Helmet Mask (ndoli jowei) for Sande Society

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Helmet Mask (ndoli jowei) for Sande Society

The ceremonies of the Sande society are the only occasions in Africa in which women customarily wear wooden masks. Masks like this one represent the society's guardian spirit at public events such as funerals or the installations of chiefs.

The features of the mask illustrate the group's ideal of feminine beauty, with a broad, high forehead, small narrow eyes, and an elaborate coiffure. The elegant hairstyles also symbolize the importance of social cooperation, since a woman needs the help of her friends to dress her hair.

In Sierra Leone and western Liberia, each town has a Sande society that includes all of the women in the community. It represents them and binds them together as a powerful social and political force. The Sande society is one of the most influential patrons of the visual arts in West Africa.

• Culture: Mende
• Medium: Wood, pigment
• Geographical Locations:
  • Possible place made: Guinea
  • Possible place made: Sierra Leone
• Dates: 19th century
• Dimensions: 16 x 7 3/4 x 10 1/4 in. (40.6 x 19.7 x 26 cm)
• Collections: Arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands
• Museum Location: This item is on view in African Galleries, 1st Floor
• Accession Number: 69.39.2
• Credit Line: Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund and Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, by exchange
• Image: Overall, 69.39.2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Mende. Helmet Mask (ndoli jowei) for Sande Society, 19th century. Wood, pigment, 16 x 7 3/4 x 10 1/4 in. (40.6 x 19.7 x 26 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund and Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, by exchange, 69.39.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 69.39.2.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: Female with European style crown as headdress. Bulging forehead with features clustered in bottom half of face. Large coffee bean eyes with slits, small nose and mouth. Plump ringed neck, small flat ears. Hair is indicated by relief diamond pattern. Crown has flower and leaf pattern surmounted by four bridges joined to a central knob. Holes around bottom of mask for attachment of costume. Crown headress supposedly taken from coins of Queen Victoria. Condition: Excellent; scattered small nicks all over, rim crack above right ear and at back left of crown.