Ceremonial spoon "wakemia"
Stacy Collection, Washington D.C., USA
Description
wood, slightly shiny dark brown patina, traces of black paint, crowned by an anthropomorphic head with female facial features and coiffure in openwork design, slightly dam., minor missing parts (tip of the spoon), rep. (breakages at the lower end of the spoon and at the coiffure), cracks, partly spread with mass, abrasion of paint;
these spoons are used on both sides of the frontier between Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire by both the Dan and their southern cousins, the Wé. Among the Dan, these spoons are called “wakemia” or “wunkirmian”, “spoons associated with festivals”. Such a spoon is the perquisite of woman whose hospitality and generosity are recognized by all, and who thus hold the envied title of “wakede” or “she who is active in festivals”.