Barakat Gallery
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Artworks
  • Exhibitions
  • About
  • Contact
Menu
  • Menu

Dan

  • All
  • Masterpieces of African Art
  • African Masks
  • Akan, Asante, Fanti
  • Bambara
  • Baule
  • Benin
  • Bura
  • Chokwe
  • Dan
  • Dogon
  • Fang
  • Hemba, Luba, Shankadi
  • Igbo, Urhobo
  • Ife
  • Mangbetu
  • Nok, Katsina, Sokoto
  • Oceanic
  • Senufo, Kongo
  • Songye
  • Yoruba
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD

Dan Bird Mask (Ge Gon), Nineteenth to Twentieth Century AD

Wood
22 x 8 x 13 cm
8 5/8 x 3 1/8 x 5 1/8 in
GM.0026
Enquire
%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EDan%20Bird%20Mask%20%28Ge%20Gon%29%3C/span%3E%2C%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3ENineteenth%20to%20Twentieth%20Century%20AD%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EWood%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E22%20x%208%20x%2013%20cm%3Cbr/%3E%0A8%205/8%20x%203%201/8%20x%205%201/8%20in%3C/div%3E

Further images

  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 1 ) Thumbnail of additional image
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 2 ) Thumbnail of additional image
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 3 ) Thumbnail of additional image
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 4 ) Thumbnail of additional image
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 5 ) Thumbnail of additional image
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 6 ) Thumbnail of additional image
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 7 ) Thumbnail of additional image
This striking mask of a bird’s head was made in Liberia or the Ivory Coast by the Dan tribe, or one of their near relatives. It is distinguished by a...
Read more
This striking mask of a bird’s head was made in Liberia or the Ivory Coast by the Dan tribe, or one of their near relatives. It is distinguished by a high forehead, a long, curved beak and arched brows above the eyes. The form of the eyes and the dark patina lend a serene aspect.

The Dan are a farming tribe, settled in the semi- wooded areas of Liberia and the ivory Coast. Much of their mythology and social structure is based upon the forest and its fiercer creatures – the Leopard Society is the main organ of social control. For example, initiates spend up to four months alone in the forest before they are permitted to enter maturity. Dan society was originally a string of spatially-proximate but socially distinct communities, and while they are now – technically at least – centralised, their diversity has found expression in the range of masks and other artefacts that they manufacture.

There was scarcely a social function that did not have its own mask prior to the 1960s, from fire-watching (= fire warden), adjudicators, warriors, debt collectors, social delinquents and warriors, and others for enlisting workers to clear paths, to catch runaway wives, to race unmasked athletes (“runner masks”) to snatch feast food to serve to children and even for spying. Small masks – called “passport” masks – were kept as talismans of good luck, to ward off illness or the evil eye, and to serve as markers of authority and ambassadorial functions. Masks were inherited through lineages, kept on altars and endowed with libations. Some retain black pitch-like substances which are presumed to be the remains of magical materials.

Function is not always easy to ascertain, paradoxically, as the masks were usually associated with costumes that have not survived, and of course with particular occasions, dances or people. In lacking these, we have only stylistic tendencies to go on. This is a highly distinctive variant of the Gagon mask, a northern Dan form, which is usually worn for entertainment as much as ritual purposes.
Close full details

Provenance

Liberia or the Ivory Coast
Share
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
Previous
|
Next
9 
of  19

London

48 Albemarle Street,

London, W1S 4JW

info@barakatgallery.eu 

 

       


 

CONTACT | TEAM | PRESS 

 

Seoul
58-4, Samcheong-ro,
Jongno-gu, Seoul
+82 02 730 1949
barakat@barakat.kr
             

 

Los Angeles

941 N La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90069
+1 310 859 8408

contact@barakatgallery.com

  


 

 

Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Send an email
View on Google Maps
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2025 Barakat Gallery
Site by Artlogic


Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences
Close

Join our mailing list

Sign Up

* denotes required fields