Mblo Portrait Mask
Portrait Mask (mblo)
Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.
Male and female mblo masks, highly valued by the Baule people, are used in a variety of entertainment dances. Wearing elaborate coiffures and delicate facial scars, they are seen as portraits of known individuals. Their idealized rendering embodies core traits of Baule aesthetics, including lustrous skin, a high forehead, and downcast eyes, signs of good health, intelligence, and admiration, respectively.
Catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art as “Portrait Mask (mblo)”, dated early to mid-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 / culture | Baule |
|---|---|
| Country | Côte d'Ivoire |
| Common name | Portrait Mask (mblo) |
| Materials | Wood and paint |
| Dimensions | Overall: 41.2 cm (16 1/4 in.) |
Provenance
| Collection | Cleveland Museum of Art |
|---|---|
| Accession number | 1974.203 |
Source
https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.203
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.