This mask has been carved with a banded collar and an elaborate hair arrangement topped by five vertical plaits. This type of mask is labelled as a 'Zogbe' mask for the 'Bundu' or 'Sande' women's society, an organisation paralleling the mens 'Poro' society and controlling the education of Mende girls. 'Zogbe' is the name given to this type of mask by the Gola people of Liberia and the Mende of Sierra Leone, and it is particularly relevant in relation to BIRRC-D0258.

John Danford spent the majority of his professional life working for the British Council in West Africa. He spent 11 years as the representative in Ibadan, Nigeria, his arts education providing him with the insight to encourage and develop the arts in Nigeria. For his achievements in this area he was awarded an OBE in 1953. He occupied three further posts in Trinidad, Manchester and Sierra Leone before illness forced him into retirement. In 1964 a large portion of his West African arts collection was loaned to the University of Birmingham before being purchased in 1975, forming the nucleus of the Danford Collection of West African Art and Artefacts.

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