Headdress (chi wara) (early to mid-1900s): Art, History and Details

Headdress (chi wara) (early to mid-1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Chi wara—a mythical “farming beast”—was said to teach farming to the Bamana people. Carved patterns cover this female chi wara’s body, highlighting its muscles and emphasizing that it is no earthly animal, but rather an agricultural spirit that combines human, antelope, and anteater elements. This example wears earrings and a nose ring of imported metals and beads. Its carver—a blacksmith—used a naturalistic style common south of the city of Bamako. Accompanied by women’s songs, male performers danced paired male-and-female chi wara headdresses affixed to basketry caps at agricultural competitions and weddings.

Object facts

• Title: Headdress (chi wara)
• Date: early to mid-1900s
• Culture: Africa, West Africa, Mali, Bamana-style blacksmith-carver
• Type: Mask
• Technique: Wood, cowrie shells, glass beads, possibly aluminum, iron alloy, upholstery studs, and natural fibers
• Dimensions: Overall: 44.5 x 66 cm (17 1/2 x 26 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1965.325

A detail from the museum

Chi wara headdresses look different depending on the region they were made in. The style of this example tells us it was likely made in the Djitoumou region of southern Mali.

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Ralph M. Coe in memory of Ralph M. Coe

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Henry John Drewal. 1989. African Art : A Brief Guide to the Collection : The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum, fig. 16.
• May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, Barbara J Bradley, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 2001. Knockouts : A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, no. 68, pp. 66-7, repr. color p. 66; listed p. 118.
• CMA 1991: Handbook, p. 147.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.