Kple Kple or Kouassi Gbe Mask

Mask (Kple Kple or Kouassi Gbe)

Attribution: Museum-publishedProvenance: Museum accession

Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.

Mask (Kple Kple or Kouassi Gbe), Igbo — front view
Front · Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 — Cleveland Museum of Art

This kple kple mask belongs to the first of four pairs of masks that entertain as part of a performance sequence in the goli dance. The male in each pair dances first. The masks are worn by young boys in a rapid stamping dance. The masqueraders alternate with each other and watch their partners perform. The head of the male kple kple is painted red, whereas the female, like this example, is colored black.

Catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art as “Mask (Kple Kple or Kouassi Gbe)”, dated late 1800s-early 1900s. 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 / cultureBaule
CountryCôte d'Ivoire
Common nameMask (Kple Kple or Kouassi Gbe)
MaterialsWood, resin, and paint
DimensionsOverall: 40.7 cm (16 in.)

Provenance

Metal Blast, Inc.; Katherine White Reswick

CollectionCleveland Museum of Art
Accession number1975.155

Source

Cleveland Museum of Art, Mask (Kple Kple or Kouassi Gbe), accession 1975.155. https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.155

https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.155

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.