The Senufo kponyugu — "firespitter" — is a horizontal helmet mask carved from soft Bombax wood into a composite beast: gaping tusked jaws, curving antelope horns, warthog or crocodile snout. Sanded with rough leaves, then oiled, buttered, and smoked over fire, it develops a deep glossy brown-black patina unlike any painted surface.

Danced at Poro funerary rites in darkness, the mask was built to spit burning embers into the night — so authentic ember-orange and gold flare exist only as sparks against near-black wood, never as flat color fields. This system carries that logic: a shadowed, oiled-wood ground with fire breaking through in narrow, deliberate accents.