dance-mask
- Museum number
- Af1956,27.40
- Description
-
Register 1956:
Wooden dance mask.
- Dimensions
-
Height: 46 centimetres
-
Width: 23 centimetres
-
Depth: 25 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Description from William Fagg, ‘The Webster Plass collection of African Art, an illustrated catalogue’, British Museum 1953, cat.52.
Wooden Senufo dance mask of helmet type in the form of an animal head with wide-open jaws and large jagged teeth; the eyes and nose have a rather human character. This type of mask is commonly said to represent the cynocephalus monkey, but according to Dr Albert Maesen, a recognized authority on the Senufo who has studied their art in the field, it is in fact a hyena mask as used by men of the Korubla secret society (known as ‘fire-spitters’) for protection against sorcerers and soul-stealers; they place burning tinder in the mouth of the mask and by blowing cause flame and smoke to issue from it.
Provenance: Félix Fénéon (exhibited in Paris and Brussels, 1930)
- Location
- On display (G25/dc3)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1977 London, BM, Animals in Art
- Acquisition date
- 1956
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1956,27.40