Dan Guerre Guere Mask African Art

Description

Title
Dan Guerre Guere Mask African Art
Type of Object
Mask
Country of Origin
Cote d'Ivoire
People
Dan, Guere
Materials
Wood, metal (metal content uknown) and pigment.
Approximate Age
20th century
Height (in)
12
Width (in)
7
Depth (in)
6
Overall Condition
Good. Most of our pieces have spent decades on at least two continents, and have been treasured by several owners. Please look carefully at the pictures which may also reveal condition and damage.
Additional Information:
Representing a Ge, who is a spirit, this mask would serve as a visible symbol manifesting power, principles, and as a "spirit of the bush" to maintain social order, initiate the young and punish wrongdoers. They are used by the men's secret society called Poro-the enforcing arm of local authority..
If truly Dan and with  open round eyes and teeth in mouth, this mask would be identified as a Zakpai ge’ mask, an active and aggressive mask that serves a number of functions. Its primary role is that of a ‘firewatch’ mask that insures proper use of cooking fires by women. Accompanied by drums it confronts a woman who has been using fire carelessly or a fire much too large for its purpose. It appears in a very aggressive dance and will throw sticks and things about, knock over the cook pot with their meals into the fire and may even beat the women who set the fire to cook. Not a friendly mask at all. It also in some areas serves as a war mask. When used the mask had a cloth wrap around the outer edge that covered the dancer when wearing the mask. The few holes around the edge of the mask were used to hold a woven netting to keep the mask close to the face during the vigorous ‘dance’.
Recommended Reading:
E. Donner: Kunst und Handwerk in NO-Liberiaí, Baessler-Archiv, xxiii/2-3 (1940), pp. 45-110.
Harley, G.W., Notes on the Poro in Liberia, Papers of the Peabody Museum, Archaeology & Ethnology, XIX, No.2 (Cambridge, MA, 1941)
G. Schwab: Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland, ed. G. W. Harley, Papers Peabody Museum, Archaeology & Ethnology, xxxi (Cambridge, MA, 1947)
Harley, G.W. Masks as Agents of Social Control in Northeast Liberia, Papers of the Peabody Museum, Archaeology & Ethnology, xxxii, No.2 (Cambridge, MA, 1950)
W. Siegmann and Cynthia Schmidt, Rock of the Ancestors, (Suacoco, 1977)
E. Fischer and Hans Himmelheber; The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, (Zurich, 1984)
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