A Senufo Helmet Mask, Ivory Coast

noo, the domed headdress with highly abstract angular face, punctuated by serrated edges and framed by diamond-shaped ears leading to two faceted projections at the back for insertion, the broad horns of dramatic sweeping form, framing a stylized animal at the crest; fine adzed surface with aged blackened patina.

Christian Debenest, Abidjan, circa 1970's

Among the Senufo, three types of helmet-like headdresses have been identified. The offered lot belongs to the type of mask worn by healers. These masks, noo, are dome-shaped and issue a pair of broad curving wild buffalo, or bush-cow, horns. The horns symbolize "the mythical bull that first revealed his secret knowledge of healing and magical powers of transformation to the Senufo hunter who became the founder of the first nookaariga society" (Glaze in Barbier 1994: 17). Nookaariga translates as "to change into a wild bush-cow" (ibid.) − the mask itself is said to enable this transformation, thereby allowing the member to perform acts of healing. Cf. Goldwater (1964: fig. 67) for a related headdress, formerly in the Helena Rubinstein Collection and collected by Lem in Fenkolo village in the Sikasso district.