Baule Twin Mask

27 August 2020

Among the Baule of Côte d’Ivoire, this type of masks with two faces is called nda (twins). Recalling a happy event twin masks populate entertainment dances and have no spiritual significance. Conveying a positive dimension the birth of twins is always welcome. The two identical faces are meticulously carved. Scarifications patterns, coiffures and colours differentiate them.

Baule twin mask
Baule twin mask. 19th century. Wood. H. 29 cm. Collected in the middle of the 1930s. Former Roger Bédiat collection. Inv. 1007-65. Musée Barbier-Mueller. Photo Studio Ferrazzini Bouchet.

To learn more about this mask, please download the notice by Susan Vogel published in Arts of Côte d’Ivoire from the collections of the Barbier-Mueller Museum, 1993, Part II, p. 118.

Notice by Susan VogelDownload