Anthropomorphic face mask "tankagle" · Côte d'Ivoire, Dan · ID: 3042723
not available anymore
Provenance
Emil Storrer, Zurich, SwitzerlandSize
H: 22,5 cm
H: 8.9 inch
Description
wood, eyes damaged along lower rim (probably once narrow with metal borders)
“Tankagle” means something close to “dancing miming masquerade”. They entertain the spectators with various beautiful dances, and sometimes they perform short skits or songs. If the masquerade specialises as a singer, it’s called “gle sö”.
“Tankagle” wears “komo”, a bonnet-like cap with applied decorations including the “bla ka”, a strip of goat skin covered with cowrie shells. The costume consists of of a pair of trousers with a skirt of bast fibre. The mask dancers wear leg rattles and hold calebash rattles in their hands.
Comparing literature
Publications
Fischer, Eberhard & Hans Himmelheber, Die Kunst der Dan, Zürich 1976, p. 61, ill. 26; Fischer, Eberhard & Hans Himmelheber, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, Zurich 1984, p. 29, ill. 28AHDRC: 0147195