Though miniature “passport” masks appear across many West African cultures, my collection focuses primarily on those from Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire—specifically Dan, Mano, Bassa, Guerze/Kpelle, Toma, and We/Guere traditions.
Passport masks are found most often carved from wood. There seems to be a regionality when it comes to much rarer examples carved from stone or cast in brass. I have seen only one example in clay and do not precisely remember my feeling on authenticity.
Despite the widespread use of the term “passport mask,” these miniatures had little or nothing to do with travel or personal identification. Instead, they served as extensions of the protective or spiritual power believed to reside within the full-sized, wearable mask (several of which I also own). Their ownership did, however, indicate membership to whichever local secret society—often operating under the broader Poro framework—that served as custodian of the larger mask and its associated spirit.
While many museums have single or perhaps a small handful of these miniatures in their collections, below are a few which have larger numbers that offer a broader range of styles over a longer timeline.
Africa: The Art of a Continent, Tom Phillips, Prestel, 1999.
Masques Miniatures de Côte d’Ivoire de Guinée et du Liberia: Quelques grammes de beauté dans le creux de la main, Jean Vivier, 2016.
Miniature Masks from West Africa, Aldo Tagliaferri, Skira Editore, Milan, Italy, 1997.
The Art of the Dan in West Africa, Eberhard Fischer and Hans Himmelheber, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1976 (English translation 1984).
Notes on the Poro in Liberia, George W. Harley, Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1941.
Masks as Agents of Social Control in Northeast Liberia, George W. Harley, Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1941.
Rock of the Ancestors, William Siegmann and Cynthia E. Schmidt, Cuttington University College, Suakoko, Liberia, 1977.
