Helmet Mask with Bush Cow and Antelope (Noo)

The carver responsible for the creation of this helmet mask playfully alternated carving in two and three dimensions. The dome-shaped cap serves as support for the depiction of a wild bush-cow’s head on the forehead, and the representation of a standing antelope at the summit. A set of ears projects on either side of the cap and incised surface patterns complete the composition. While the face of the buffalo is delicately carved in low relief, the broad curving horns project upwards as fully sculptural forms.

This example is one of only three known similar masks affiliated with the larger group of noo (or bovine) helmet masks. According to scholar Anita Glaze, they are the principal insignia of an elite society of healers, nookaariga (meaning "to change into a wild bush-cow"). Oral tradition states that the Senufo hunter who became the founder of the first nookaariga society received the secret knowledge of healing and magical powers of transformation from a mythical wild bush-cow.