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View at the museum ↗Helmet Mask (Lipiko)
MakondeEarly to mid-20th century
- Attribution
- Attributed to Diteka (active early- to mid-20th century) Makonde Mozambique Eastern and Southern Africa
- Medium
- Wood, pigment, and human hair
- Physical dimensions
- H.: 26 cm (10 1/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Through prior bequest of Florene May Schoenborn
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Source rights statement: Public-domain image eligibility not established by this export
View the museum record ↗From the museum
Incarnating ancestral spirits, Makonde helmet masks appear in dances that celebrate the conclusion of initiation rituals for adolescent boys and girls. In this darkbrown male example, real human hair has been applied to the skull in irregular patterns that imitate a once-fashionable hairstyle. Its other lifelike characteristics include angular scarification marks and chipped teeth. The artist’s proper name— Diteka—is inscribed in Swahili on the mask’s cheek.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0