Gelede Mask Depicting Masquerade Scene

Origin: Yoruba Tribe, Nigeria
Composition: wood, pigment dyes

The Gelede is a cult of the Yoruba tribe, which among other functions pays tribute to older Yoruba women. Danced by men, the piece likely presents a proverb related to regulating social order, employing a Yoruba deity or tribesman facing a masquerader (possibly an egungun masquerader, who wears a costume similar to that depicted).

This highly collectible helmet was purchased in Abuja, Nigeria by a SUJARO buying partner in 1998, and is one of the few top-quality Yoruba Gelede masks to grace the SUJARO collection. Carved from a single piece of wood.

The word ‘Yoruba’ describes both a language and a tribe living across Nigeria and the Popular Republic of Benin, in an area of forest and savannah. Their origins can be traced back to the end of the first millennium like the civilization of Ife. Following the collapse of the Ife civilization, a number of kingdoms such as the Ijebu and the Oyo emerged. They, in turn, disintegrated during the 18th and 19th centuries, but were revived by the colonial powers at the end of the 19th century and today still form the political structure of the Yoruba people. The enormous scale of the slave trade in Nigeria contributed to the diaspora of the Yoruba people and informed spiritual practices in countries such as Haiti (Passage from Bacquart, Tribal Arts of Africa).