The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Wood mask with chipped paint and two tubular eyes painted white and fringed with fur. The face is painted orange with blue around the eyebrows and mouth. The mouth opens to red cloth with square metal teeth, several missing un the upper row. From the eye level, a mane made of light brown pegs wraps under the chin. Strips of dark brown human hair hang down on either side of the face.

Face Mask (Tehe gla)

early 1900s

Africa, West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire or Liberia, Wè-style carver

Wood, boar tusks, pelt, cloth, human hair, probably aluminum, reeds, iron alloy, copper alloy, plant fiber, and paint
Overall: 38.1 cm (15 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1971.294
Location: 108A African

Did You Know?

The masquerader who wore this mask also had a body costume of layers of raffia and matching anklets; cloth covered their head.

Description

Tubular eyes and the fringe of carved leopard canine teeth identify this mask as male. Such masks appeared only during very important moments. The dancer wore a leopard skin over his head and shoulders, held an elephant's tusk in his hand, and had his face painted white. The masks function as peacemakers; they led soldiers into battle, and administered justice.
  • Harry Franklin, Los Angeles
    ?–1971
    Katherine White Reswick
    1971–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art by gift
  • Boyer, Alain-Michel. We. Milano: 5 Continents Editions, 2020. p. 28, ill. pl. 10 and p. 109
    Fagg, William. African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 60
    “New Acquisitions.” African Arts 5, no. 4 (Summer 1972): 77–78. Reproduced: P. 78 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Henry John Drewal. African Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection: the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Museum, 1989. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 6, fig. 8
    Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: Selected Works of African Art. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 58-59, no. 14
  • CMA 1973: "Year in Review 1972," CMA Bulletin LX (March, 1973), p. 107, no. 37
    CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 60, repr.; also to University Museum, Philadelphia.
  • {{cite web|title=Face Mask (Tehe gla)|url=false|author=|year=early 1900s|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.294