Gelede Helmet Mask of a Gendarme (3)
Gelede Helmet Mask of a Gendarme (3)
Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.
Gelede is a performance that often serves as a showcase for artistic innovation, with the forms of gelede masks depicting a wide range of motifs that are both entertaining and critical. This mask depicts a French gendarme, a colonial soldier, and was likely performed as a critique of French personal and political behavior during the colonial period.
Catalogued by Brooklyn Museum as “Gelede Helmet Mask of a Gendarme (3)”. Harvested from the museum’s open-access record; every field below is copied from that record and none of it has been inferred.
Record
| People / culture | Yoruba |
|---|---|
| Country | Benin, Nigeria |
| Common name | Gelede Helmet Mask of a Gendarme (3) |
| Form category | Headdress or crest worn atop the head |
| Subject depicted | Ancestor or named individual |
Provenance
| Collection | Brooklyn Museum |
|---|---|
| Accession number | 1991.226.3 |
Source
This record is a catalogue entry, not an appraisal, valuation or legal determination. Nothing here should be read as evidence that an object was lawfully acquired or exported.