Mask "deangle" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Dan · ID: 3033999

Description

wood, brown patina, bulging forehead with raised vertical middle ridge, horizontal deepened eye zone, round deepenings in the upperlip, pierced around the rim, min. dam., small missing parts, on base;
“deangle” literally means “joking, laughing” mask figure. The “dean” mask characters belong to the circumcision camps (“mbon”) of young boys and girls. They act as a mediator between the camp and the village.They are not accompanied by musicians and they are not singing and dancing, but moving gracefully and joking with the women, begging them to send plenty of food to the camp.

Comparing literature

Fischer, Eberhard, Himmelheber, Hans, Die Kunst der Dan, Zürich 1976, p. 49, ill. 11 Wastiau, Boris, Medusa, The African sculpture of Enchantment, Genf 2008, ill. 111