The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Painted wood mask with a teardrop shaped face, two holes for eyes, and a cylindrical nose extending from the forehead. A block carved out in the middle creates square, parted lips. The pointed of the head curves back, widening from a narrow point, into a headpiece with a black painted ridge dividing it down the middle. The face is painted cream with black and burgundy patterns, also making a triangular pattern on the headpiece.

Mask (wan-balinga)

early 1900s

Africa, West Africa, Burkina Faso, Mossi-style blacksmith-carver

Wood and paint
Overall: 34 x 14 x 14 cm (13 3/8 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2014.1
Location: 108A African

Did You Know?

This mask was worn and danced upon the death of an elder, escorting the corpse to the grave.

Description

Only the farmers among the Mossi people employ masks. This mask’s proper name, wan-balinga, evokes a mythical figure who was the mother of the first Mossi ruler. Such masks are most typically worn and danced with on the occasion of the funeral of a male or female elder as escorts of the corpse to the grave. They also appear during annual memorial services that occur months after the actual burial, when all the deceased clan members are commemorated and honored.
  • before 1967
    Charles Ratton, Paris, France
    1967–?
    Evelyn Annenberg Hall & William Jaffe, New York, NY
    Galerie Jacques Germain, Montreal, Canada
    ?–2014
    (Galerie Jacques Germain, Montreal, Canada, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2014–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Germain, Jacques, Céline Marti, and Hughes Dubois. 2006. Art Ancien De L’afrique Noire. Montréal: Jacques Germain Arts Ethnographiques, p.31.
    Petridis, Constantine. “Acquisition Highlights 2014: African Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 55, no. 2 (March/April 2015): 17. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 17 archive.org
  • {{cite web|title=Mask (wan-balinga)|url=false|author=|year=early 1900s|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2014.1