Specialized in Object and Library & Archive Conservation
Sherbro Island Mask
Report Summary
Owner: Penn Museum (see the object on their website)
Accession #: 37-22-271
Object: Mask
Materials: Wood, raffia fiber
Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 25 cm
Consulted:
Penn Museum Conservation Department
Friendly Keeper, African Section, Penn Museum
Report Date: 02.02.2022
Treatment Images
Historical Context and Significance
Sherbro Island is a small island part of the country Sierra Leone. There are multiple cultural groups on Sherbro Island, one of which is the Mende. The Mende make up about 30.9% of Sierra Leone. Within, but not limited to, the Mende people is an all-women’s society called the Sande society. There are many gendered societies in this region of the world. These societies are centered around a hale, or a medicine. The Sande society holds the traditional belief that the roots of productivity, fertility, and wealth is female and exerts this belief through spiritual influence over both women and men. To become a member of the society one must be initiated. The initiation often takes place around the age of puberty in girls. While many studies of the Sande society focus on its operation inside the Mendeland, it is an international society including women from Libera and Guinea in addition to Sierra Leone.
The mask this report refers to is a Sowei style mask that is worn with an accompanying costume of raffia that covers the body of the wearer. Lamp informs us that using the term “Sowei” to refer to the mask is a recent development that western ethnographers and anthropologists picked up from the beginning of longer phrases that translate to “sowei performer” or “sowei play person”. Sowei (plural: Soweisia) also refers to the role of a high official in the Sande society, implying the masker is also an expert in the knowledge and wisdom of the Sande. To distinguish the masker from other Soweisiain Mande (the language of the Mende), they are sometimes referred to as “ndoli jowie”: the Sowei who dances.
The masks imbued with spiritual properties originate from the water. Water has spiritual properties in the Sande belief system. The Sande masker is associated with river dwelling nature spirits. Water is said to magically perform the most beautifully intricate hairstyles on the Sowei masks. Because of this ethos, the carver of the mask does not receive credit for creating the mask. The Sande masker attire consists of the mask and dyed black raffia that covers the wearer's body. The word ‘black’ also means ‘wet’ in Mande, which is consistent with the masker personifying a water spirit. The Sandemasker as a whole is a “personification of Sande hale, medicine, and an embodiment of ngafa, its spirit”. The spirit is also sometimes referred to as ‘Sowo” and the head specifically is “Sowo-wui". The mask also represents the Mende ideal form of human beauty.
Sande initiation rituals are conducted similarly throughout Mendeland, but the occasions where the masker appears vary. Technically an initiation ceremony can take place without the masker, but the masker adds so much entertainment, fanfare, and spectacle to the initiation that it is rare for the initiations to take place without a masker. If no one in the group is in possession of a mask they will go to great lengths to borrow one. The Sowei primarily appears during the coming out ceremony for initiates and leads the girls from their ritual bathing in the river to the center of the village. Outside of the initiation ceremony appearances, the masker also appears if a Sowei passes away.
See full report for citations and references.
Condition and Description
The mask is composed of wood and raffia fibers. A dark brown color has been applied to the wooden surface and to the fibers. Designs on the mask are symmetrical on the vertical axis that bisects the faces and bisects the sides. On top of the head there is a four-sided stepped pyramid. Surrounding the pyramid are six designs (three sets in pairs of two) previously described to represent antelope horns. The first pair is laid across the middle of the head, with one of the remaining two pairs on either side. Each horn has a 2.5cm long area of indentation designs near the forehead. Between the horns are alternating indentation designs. A pattern of sets of five stripes that alternate vertically and horizontally make up the majority of the designs on the top portion of the mask, which likely represents braided hair. Horizontally, the five sets in each row alternate. Vertically, the five sets of vertical stripes are offset by three stripes, and two of the five in each vertical set line up with each other. Below the five-stripe set pattern is a protruding ridge with carved diagonal strips connecting to an identical ridge below. This design goes around the mask and is connected to itself. It makes a half-ovular shape encompassing the forehead of the faces and is in a straight line when on the sides of the mask. In the middle of each forehead is a set of twenty-four protruding strips divided in two, 12 on top and 12 directly below. The ears of both faces have intentional holes in the lobes, potentially to imitate a pierced ear. Both faces have thin eyebrows, strong brow ridges, closed eyes, and a closed mouth. On the sides of the mask there is a curve of horizontal carved stripes that increase in length as it moves toward the center of the side, then decrease as it gets closer to the opposite face. The bottom of the mask is flared, and below that is a 1.5 cm tall area with holes that the raffia is attached through.
The wooden part of the mask is stable overall. The raffia part of the mask is unstable as it is friable and warped due to the wooden part of the mask resting atop the raffia while in storage. One face has a loss in the middle of the proper left (PL) ear. This face has abrasions on the chin, below the chin, on the proper right (PR) ear, and on the lowest rung of the headband-esque design. The other face has a loss in the top of the PR ear. This face has a 15 cm long vertical crack on the side behind the PR ear. This face also has abrasions above the loss in the PR ear, on the lowest rung of the headband type design, on the front of the nose, and below the chin on the PR side. There is another crack below the space between the two horns on the side of both whole ears. Impact damage is visible in the hair above the PR ear with the loss in the top, and in 24 rectangles on that same side. More abrasions are present on the top of the mask and on the edge of both whole ears. The original color of the wood is visible where there are losses, abrasions, and impact damage. See condition diagrams for visual identification of abrasions, impact damage, and cracks. There is a remnant of a fabric label attached to the bottom rim of the mask on the side with losses in the ears.
Ethical Considerations
Should I carry out interventive treatment?
Because the curator did not desire loss compensation of the ears or aesthetic reintegration of abrasions, I will not be carrying out these steps during treatment. Given the historical context of the mask, I think it is best to not carry out these more interventive steps because once a mask is damaged, a new one would be made. Meaning the cultural practice also does not involve interventive repair. I want to be as respectful as possible to the mask and the cultural practices around it.
Treatment Summary
Raffia Stabalization
I re-attached the raffia to the holes in the mask with nylon fishing line, then humidified the raffia to help it relax.
Rehousing
I built a box for this mask out of blue board, hot melt, and fabric tape. Bumpers on the inside are ethafoam lined with Tyvek.