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 and have at each end 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 may be considered to be a special one for several reasons. Both handles are given special forms: a woman's head and a footed vessel. The elongated neck of the figure is not simply a cylinder but displays decorative carving to represent "fat rings," symbols of good health and feminine beauty.

A wood rectangular form supported on four feet, with twelve depressions arranged in two parallel rows of six, and a handle at each end. The long sides of the gameboard are decorated with incised designs: triangles with striated lines filled with white pigment which are placed apex to apex and a checkerboard pattern. The handles are carved in the form of a female head and a footed vessel; each carved in the round.

Anonymous donor, ca.1975 to 1999

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