West African Senufo Carved Wood Ligbi Mask. From a distinct tribal ritual, this mask showcases large curving horns sweeping back from the forehead, slit eyes beneath relief carved white and blue cross-hatched rectangular brows, incised scarification on each side of the small, pouting lips, and similar white and blue cross-hatching on extensions on either side of the mask below the pointed side ears. A knot of twine at the top of the back has been added to make it wall-hanging art. 

Size: 21 x 11 x 5 1/4 in. 

The Senufo are a West African ethnolinguistic group primarily residing in the northern Ivory Coast, having emerged as a distinct group around the 15th Century. Primarily agriculturalists, their society is organized around a caste system that distinguishes between farmers and various artisan groups, such as blacksmiths and carvers. They are world-renowned for their musical talent and superb woodcarvings, particularly masks and figurines used in the initiation rituals of the secret male society known as the Poro. Senufo spirituality centers on ancestral spirits and a dual male-female Supreme Being, often represented in art by the symbolic hornbill or the "Ancient Mother." These artistic traditions profoundly influenced 20th Century European artists like Pablo Picasso, particularly during his influential African period of proto-Cubism. Today, the term Senufo serves as a major category for art collectors, with significant historical pieces preserved in leading museums worldwide.

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