Mende Bundu Helmet Mask, Based

In Sierra Leone, this is a mask made for a woman to wear.

This Bundu helmet mask is Mende, from Sierra Leone, and dates to the 20th century. It is carved wood and raffia. Bundu, also called Sande, is a women's society, and its masks are among the few African masking traditions danced by women. A small face sits low on a glossy black helmet, its eyes narrow slits under a smooth brow. An incised band and cross-hatched panels wrap the head, and curling forms crown the top. Long red-brown raffia falls beneath it. Thirty-two inches high.

The eyes stay nearly shut. They give very little away.