Notched border rim (Yaure face-frame diagnostic)

The notched border rim is the morphological feature most consistently identified in the comparative literature as diagnostic of Yaure mask attribution. It consists of a raised, continuous edge running from the forehead, down around the cheeks, and across the chin, carved in a regular serrated, stepped, or zigzag pattern of considerable precision. The regularity and fineness of the notching distinguish it from the smoother, unframed face edges typical of Baule masks in the mblo portrait and spirit categories, and from the coarser or more variable framing occasionally found on Guro masks. Its presence is explained in formal terms as a border device that visually isolates and elevates the face plane, giving the Yaure mask its characteristic quality of contained, concentrated attention.

From an attribution standpoint, the notched rim functions as what specialists in central Ivorian material sometimes call a 'tribal signature' — a stable formal convention maintained across the Yaure carving tradition with sufficient consistency to be diagnostic rather than merely typical. In practice, the rim's regularity and execution quality also provide secondary evidence regarding authenticity: on genuine older masks produced for ritual use, the individual notches show the slight irregularity and tool-mark variation of hand-carving, whereas on workshop reproductions they tend to be cut with mechanical uniformity. The rim is the primary reason that correctly attributed Yaure masks command a premium among specialist collectors relative to the same pieces sold under a generic Baule attribution.