Sable Helmet Crest

Sable Helmet Crest
Wood, paint pigment
Size in cm: 24 x 57 x 20
Weight: 1.2kg

The sable helmet crest is a typical representation of the sable bushback antelope animal found in africa. Also serves this mask the purpose of detecting and extinguishing evil forces through ritual dances. This wonderfully sculpted and painted helmet crest-mask in the shape of an antelope is mostly found among the west and south Guro people of the Ivory Coast, although this piece has been sourced from Kenya. The mask appears in the Dye ceremony or with a dance group that consists of a number of animal masks that are powerful and therefor highly respected. The Dye dance troop consists of elephant, hyena, buffalo, antelopes, dogs, hippopotamus, and monkeys. Dye masks are violent in their behavior and are not to be seen by females or children who lock themselves indoors or leave the village when the masks appear in the early light at daybreak. In the past the masks served as the highest display of male authority dispensing justice and exercising social control.