Browse Items (124 total)

This monkey figure is referred to as a gbekre, a brother of the buffalo spirit known as Guli. It is carved out of natural unstained wood. This figure fulfils a deity role by receiving offerings in agricultural rituals and protects the living. A…

This mask comes from the Baule people of Cote D’Ivoire. Carved wood with encrusted dark brown black and red patina in the form of two faces side by side, one being black (right) and the other red (left) with fine facial details & scarification, pair…

This mask is an oval female face with an elaborate coiffure and free-form braids. There are holes around the rim for attaching. It is made out of carved wood with a rich dark brown vegetable pigment patina.

A hand-wrought iron gong stands next to a carved wood tappa featuring a Goli Society Bo-Amun mask. There are holes in the base for attaching fabric. The gong has an encrusted brown patina and the tappa has a rich red brown patina.

Diviners (highly respected fortune tellers) use a mouse and a divination pot called a "gbekre" to predict future events.

One-of-a-kind bronze royal bracelet with two rounded hinge halves. An elephant stands in the center with lions on either side.

Fly whisk features two elephants with their trunks entwined around a tree. The center shaft is missing the blue indigenous fabric for shooing away flies. It is made of carved wood with brown patina and 24K red gold leaf.

This divination pot features ancestral faces, a man holding diviner sticks, a rooster, a large mouse, a puzzled monkey, elephants, a frog, a crocodile, and a royal dancer. It is one of a kind, lost wax cast bronze with varied bronze green patina.…

This crocodile-shaped game board has recessed cups in its back for game use and holding the playing pieces. This mathematical game is played with cowrie shells or pebbles, and is similar to chess. The game board is carved out of wood with and dark…

Goli masquerades are rich with social commentary pertaining to knowledge, gender, aesthetics, and the hierarchies surrounding village life. Communication comes forth through the medium of entertainment with elaborate costuming. Performance takes…