Gameboard

Among the Dan, elaborately sculpted gameboards for playing ma kpon, a local version of mankala, the count and capture board game, are valued for their decoration. Such gameboards are usually decorated with incised geometric or representational designs on the long sides--the articulated sides and decorative detail on the top of the board are distinctive variations. Again typically at each end there is a handle, one of which may be carved in the form of a human or ram's head. The second handle is often a simple cup. This gameboard has a finely detailed human head that greatly resembles Dan masks and spoon finials. The artist has been identified on the basis of carving style as Zon. He has not just detailed the hairstyle but the elongated neck of the figure is not simply a cylinder, but displays decorative carving to represent "fat rings," that symbolize good health and feminine beauty.

Wood rectangular two row gameboard with projecting head and cup, articulated sides and herringbone pattern on the forehead and between the game holes on top. The head has white metal teeth.

Lucien P. Garo, Bethesda, Maryland, acquired from a village chief in Liberia, 1955 to 1994

Gameboards, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., May 27-November 30, 1998

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