H x W x D: 24.8 x 22.9 x 19.1 cm (9 3/4 x 9 x 7 1/2 in.)
Type:
Sculpture
Geography:
Côte d'Ivoire
Date:
Late 18th-19th century
Label Text:
This cast copper-alloy helmet raises interesting questions for African art history. In the past certain formal resemblances to Senufo helmet masks carved in wood have led to a Senufo attribution. The helmet has to be situated, however, within a larger historical context. On formal grounds, the most compelling comparative works of art are in fact Qajar metal helmets from 18th- and 19th-century Persia. Such an intriguing parallel raises the issue of how this helmet might be related to helmets and armor of the Islamic world. Although this connection might seem far-fetched, it must be pointed out that chain mail from Egypt and Persia was still in use in the 18th and 19th centuries at royal courts in northern Nigeria. Given how many types of Islamic armor have been found there, it is surprising that no helmets have been seen.
The formal similarities between this helmet and the Qajar helmet type are many: both have the overall shape of a shallow inverted bowl, vertical horns, a central decorative projection between the horns, narrow oval eyes, a rim pierced with many holes, and plume-holders--two of which are found on the back of the museum's helmet. In the Qajar case, the holes in the rim were used to suspend chain mail. It is intriguing to speculate that the loop above the nose on the museum's helmet is a remnant of a similar loop found on Qajar helmets which held a metal nose guard in position to protect the face of the warrior who wore the helmet. The cast horns may be those of a bushcow.
The Reverend Knops, who worked among the Senufo in the 1920s and 1930s, refers to metal combat helmets used during warriors' dances. This helmet shows some affinity to metal face masks in northern Côte d'Ivoire, for which it has been argued have a Mande (Dyula) origin and a date of manufacture between 1770 and 1890. The Mande link and the existence of metal masks in the great trading city of Kong make plausible a connection to patterns of long-distance trade and cultural borrowings that have already been demonstrated by research on the Islamic origins of Akan kuduo, or cast brass ritual vessels, and thus the larger connections between the West African savanna, the Sahel region, northeastern Africa and the world of Islam.
Description:
Cast copper alloy helmet in the shape of an inverted bowl topped with projecting animal horns (possibly bushcow), horizontal, narrow slit shaped eyes and mouth and a raised rectangular band with zigzag motif vertically leading from the nose to a small cast antelope figure on top. The rim of the helmet is pierced with holes used for the costume attachment, possibly chain mail.
Provenance:
Lucien Van de Velde, Antwerp, 1967 to 1991
Exhibition History:
Senufo: Art and Identity in West Africa, The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 22-May 31, 2015; Saint Louis Art Museum, June 28-May 31, 2015; Musée Fabre, Montpelier, France, Nov 28, 2015 to March 6, 2016
Masques du Monde, Société Génerale de Banque, Brussels, June 28-July 31, 1974
Published References:
Gagliardi, Susan Elizabeth and Petridis, Constantijn. 2014. Senufo Unbound: Dynamics of Art and Identity in West Africa. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art.
Jacob, Alain. 1974. Bronzes de l'Afrique noire. Paris: Muse´e de l'Homme, p. 66.
National Museum of African Art. 1999. Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 48, no. 27.
Petridis, Constantine. 2008. "Buffalo Helmets of Tussian and Siemu Peoples of Burkina Faso." African Arts 41 (3), p. 37, no. 12.
Rincon, Laurelle. 1998. "Un type de casque a cornes en Afrique de l'ouest, Tentative de contribution a l'histoire des casques militaires en laiton." MA thesis, Universite Paris, Pantheon Sorbonne.
Société Génerale de Banque. 1974. Masques du monde. Bruxelles: Société Génerale de Banque, no. 24.
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