The Bete have a highly developed and socially vital tradition of masking and dancing designed to maintain harmonious relations with the forces of nature and the ancestors, upon which the tribe depends for its welfare. While particularly known for the production of gre, dramatically abstracted and elaborate masks embodying fearsome nature spirits, Bete artists also carved a class of more naturalistic human faces, in which the present example is included.

Echoing forms of roundness mark the design of this nineteenth-century mask, with its domed forehead, wide nose and cheeks, open mouth, and ovular silhouette. With close-set, almond-shaped eyes and mouth held open in an impression of speech or command, this mask holds an aura of vigor and strength. Details on the brow and sides of the mask blend subtly into the dark patina of the wood, smoothed down by time and use. A slight loss is noticeable on the viewer’s right side of the mask.