Baule Mblo Mask

One of the oldest Baule art forms, the Mblo mask, is used in entertainment dances by the Baule people. They used these face masks and wear stilts. The mblo masks are normally portraits of known individuals.

Mblo masks embody the core Baule sculpture style manifested in figures and decorated objects - spoons, combs, pulleys and the like. Lustrous curving surfaces, suggesting clean, healthy, well-fed skin, are set off by delicately textured zones representing coiffures, scarification, and other ornaments. The idealized faces are introspective, with the high foreheads and the large downcast eyes. Fine scarification and coiffures denote personal beauty, refinement and a desire to give pleasure to others.