Object Details
Maker
Dogon artist
Label Text
Traditionally Dogon masks are controlled by the Awa society, a group of predominantly male initiates who conduct the public rites that insure the transition of the dead into the spirit world. A large number of masks participate in Dogon funerary rites and the dama, a celebration at the end of mourning. The masks also appear in the sigui, a celebration held only every 60 years to mark the change in generations.
There are more than 70 different Dogon masks, which can be grouped according to medium, whether fiber or wood; subject, whether animal, human or abstract; and character, whether predatory or nonpredatory. This wood mask is nonpredatory, a rabbit. The rabbit has the role of the trickster in Dogon folklore--is cunning, able to defy the hunter--and possesses magical substances. The mask appears in a pantomime with the hunter mask and in its own rapid dance that is marked by distinctive high stepping and the crossing of one leg diagonally before the other.
Description
Wood face mask representing a hare with flat rectangular face broken by rectangular recesses, containing rectangular cut out eyes. Erect ears on top of head and curved ears on sides of head. Small projection between top ears. Overall traces of red pigment, dark dots, traces of bright blue.
Provenance
Emil J. Arnold, New York, -- to 1968
Exhibition History
African Sculpture, Princeton University Art Museum, February 2-March 14, 1971, no. 5
Published References
Museum of African Art. 1971. African Sculpture at Princeton University from the Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: Museum of African Art, p. 4, no. 5.
Content Statement
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Credit Line
Gift of Emil Arnold
Date
Mid 20th century
Object number
68-36-222
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Mask
Medium
Wood, pigment, paint
Dimensions
H x W x D: 40.6 x 15.6 x 10.5 cm (16 x 6 1/8 x 4 1/8 in.)
Geography
Mali
See more items in
National Museum of African Art Collection
Data Source
National Museum of African Art
Topic
Funerary
Initiation
rabbit
Male use
male
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmafa_68-36-222