Cleveland Museum of Art

Helmet Mask

Date

early 1900s

Medium

Wood, paint, organic material, and iron alloy

Culture

Africa, Central Africa, Cameroon, possibly Kom-style maker

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Deliberately distorted and exaggerated facial features reflect the awesome powers of a great chief. The quadrupeds on the mask’s head suggest the close association between the leopard and the king. In the Cameroon grasslands, masks are typically related to a regulatory society that guards ancestral mores; society members wear the masks and dance in the secrecy of the night.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.