A Baule mask, Ivory Coast, collected in the Daoukro region, in an oval, hollowed form, with a raffia pointed beard, a pointed mouth, a slender saddle-shaped nose framed by eyes with heavy eyelids, and four angled horns on the top of the head, incl. stand. Susan Mullin Vogel does discuss the horns on Baule masks, and her interpretation helps explain why they appear even though they don’t necessarily represent real animal features. In her landmark study Baule: African Art, Western Eyes, Vogel comments on masks with horns (or horn‑like projections) and what they signify within Baule aesthetic and symbolic practice. According to Vogel, ornamentation such as horns, birds, combs, and other motifs above the face are often chosen for their aesthetic impact rather than strict iconographic meaning. She notes that these decorative elements on Baule portrait masks can suggest a blurring of the line between human and animal, but more importantly they are part of the visual language of beauty, refinement, and stylistic balance that Baule carvers cultivate. In other words, the horns are not literal representations of animal horns but artistic devices that contribute to the mask’s overall presence and expressive power. Vogel writes that ornaments such as horns are selected for their beauty and their ability to enhance the graceful, introspective character of the mask, with little evidence in her account that they have a fixed symbolic or mythological meaning directly tied to a particular spirit or animal. So in summary: The angled horns on Baule masks are not typically animal attributes in the sense of representing a buffalo, antelope, or similar creature. Vogel emphasizes that such decorative elements are part of the aesthetic vocabulary of Baule carvers, integrated into mask design primarily for form, balance, and beauty rather than as fixed symbolic content. CAB33045