Côte d'Ivoire · Wood / Hardstone Carving
Goli (a four-mask entertainment dance series); Mblo (portrait-style entertainment masks, referred to as Gbagba in the village of Kami specifically); kplekple, goli glin, kpan, and kpan pre (the four sequential mask types within the Goli series)
The carving of entertainment masks by the Baule people, roughly 400,000 strong in central Côte d'Ivoire, whose rich carving tradition produces two recognized categories: Goli, a sequential four-mask dance series adopted from the neighboring Mandé people in the early 20th century, and Mblo, individually named portrait masks depicting specific real community members, danced by a masker in cloth costume who conceals his face behind the small carved wooden mask. Carvers select and sun-dry sturdy white klien wood until it lightens and becomes easier to wear, carve a basic form, and smooth it using gninleh leaf as a natural sandpaper. The Goli series specifically comprises four masks performed in fixed sequence over a full 24-hour village festival — kplekple (a flat, disk-shaped junior male mask), goli glin (a composite 'bush spirit' mask combining bovine and other animal features), and the paired kpan and kpan pre masks — each carrying distinct carved iconography, painted coloration, and social-generational meaning. A single well-documented Mblo mask, depicting a named individual (Moya Yanso of Kami village), sold at Sotheby's in 1999 for 197,000 US dollars, illustrating the international collector value historic examples of this carving tradition can command.
Risk level: Endangered · Not independently inscribed
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