Baule Kplekple Mask 1454 - For African Art Gallery

Baule Kplekple Mask 1454 - For African Art Gallery

BAULE KPLEKPLE MASK

Tribe: Baule
Country: Ivory Coast
Material: Wood, Pigment
Size: 16.5" (42 cm)
Condition: Good
This mask is the first to appear in goli spirit dances. It performs a minor spirit associated with the junior rank of male dancers who perform before the more important masks appear. In keeping with its low status, it is of a simpler form of a disc shape. Known as a mischievous mask, the young dancers chase women around the village, goaded by their songs.
The Baule name comes from their myth of origin. In the seventeenth century, in what is today known as Ghana, the Denkyera kingdom rose to prominence, but a dispute led to a dynasty leaving the country. Abla Poku, the queen, had to flee far from Kumasi with her people, the Asabu, whom she led through the forests, but their trip was brought up short by the Comoe river. she consulted her diviner, who told her that to ensure safe passage across the river, she would have to sacrifice her only child. So, eager to escort her people to the promised land, she decided the she herself would throw the child into the waters as an offering to the river gods, crying out "Baouli" ("My child is dead!"), and the followers are said to have adopted this word as the name for their people in honor of the queen's sacrifice.