Mask with hinged jaw "gägon" ·  Côte d'Ivoire, Dan · ID: 3032870

Description

wood, black patina, with projecting articulated lower jaw covered with black and white fur, high domed forehead ornamented with three nails, the sides incised with narrow parallel bands, pierced around the rim, minor missing parts, slight traces of abrasion;
the mask was completed by a high tapering cylindrical helmet with feathers, a skirt of grass fibres and blue-white cloth wrapped around the upper part of the body. According to Hans Himmelheber these mask type surely had educational purposes in former times but is nowadays only used for entertainment of the village people.

Comparing literature

Fischer, Eberhard, Himmelheber, Hans, Die Kunst der Dan, Zürich 1976, p. 124, ill. 94