A slender Bété mask from Côte d’Ivoire, collected in the Gagnoa region, characterized by its elongated, streamlined facial structure typical of southern Bété sculptural idioms. The surface shows partial encrustation and a complex, layered touch patina, suggesting prolonged ritual handling and extended use within performance contexts. Traces of kaolin remain visible in recessed areas, indicating former ritual whitening practices associated with spiritual activation, protection, or mediation between visible and ancestral realms. Incl stand. The formal reduction of features—often tending toward abstraction rather than naturalism—emphasizes vertical tension and compositional austerity. The mask’s visual impact is reinforced by the interaction between exposed wood, accreted residues, and softened edges of wear, which together articulate both aesthetic intention and lived ritual biography. In Bété contexts, such masks are generally associated with masquerade performances linked to social control, spirit mediation, or the embodiment of forest or ancestral forces. The accumulated surface traces are not incidental but form part of the object’s epistemic and performative identity, marking successive activations over time. References: Fischer, Eberhard (ed.) West African Masks and Ritual Performance; Holas, Bohumil Masques Bété et Dan de Côte d’Ivoire; Vogel, Susan M. Bété: Mask Traditions of Côte d’Ivoire; Imperial Warburg Institute Archive on West African Sculpture; LaGamma, Alisa Heroic Africans exhibition catalogue, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This information is created by AI and based on published ethnographic, archaeological, and art-historical sources.