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This Dan mask tradition is coming from the Man–Kouhibly region belongs to one of the most complex masquerade systems in Côte d’Ivoire. It is documented in the Jaenicke-Njoya Archive. Incl stand.

In Dan culture, a mask is never only a carved object but the visible manifestation of a forest spirit (gle or ge), which can take different identities depending on social context such as initiation, entertainment, protection, racing or warfare.

The so-called “chasseurs” or hunter-related masks are especially connected to the forest as a dangerous and spiritually charged space. Hunters in Dan societies are not only trackers of animals but also mediators between human communities and forest forces. For this reason, masks associated with hunters often express heightened perception, alertness and spiritual authority.

The presence of multiple faces or multiplied facial aspects in such masks is not literal portraiture but a symbolic condensation of several layers of vision and identity. In Dan cosmology, seeing is not singular: a powerful being must be able to perceive in more than one direction—physically, socially and spiritually. The “double” or “multiple” face can therefore represent:

– simultaneous vigilance in different directions (the hunter’s need to read the forest space)
– the dual role of hunter as both pursuer and vulnerable being within the forest order
– the idea that spiritual forces are plural and can act through one object at once
– the collective identity of hunting associations, where the mask embodies a group rather than an individual

Ethnographically, Dan masks are also understood as “performative beings” activated through dance, music and initiation contexts. A mask may carry several named spirit personalities depending on performance context, so visual multiplicity often reflects spiritual multiplicity rather than anatomical realism.

Literature (a selction)

Vandenhoute, P. J. L., Classification stylistique du masque Dan et Guéré de la Côte d’Ivoire occidentale, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1948, https://lccn.loc.gov/52068572
Kamara, Mamadou Koblé, Les fonctions du masque dans la société Dan de Sipilou, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1992,
Reed, Daniel B., Dan Ge Performance: Masks and Music in Contemporary Côte d’Ivoire, Indiana University Press, 2003
Peek, Philip M., Dan Ge Performance: Masks and Music in Contemporary Côte d’Ivoire (review and article), African Arts, 2004,
Vandenhoute, Jan (ed.), The Artist Himself in African Art Studies: Jan Vandenhoute’s Investigation of the Dan Sculptor in Côte d’Ivoire, Academia Press, 2001,
Fischer, Eberhard and Himmelheber, Hans, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa (museum and ethnographic reference work frequently cited in Dan mask studies)Fagg, William B., Two Early Masks from the Dan Tribes in the British Museum, Journal “Man”, 1955,
Gnonsoa, Angèle; Oberlé, Philippe (eds.), Masques vivants de Côte d’Ivoire, S.A.E.P., 1985,
Daniel B. Reed, Ambiguous Agency: Dan/Mau Mask Spirit Performance as Ontology in Côte d’Ivoire and the US, Africa Journal, 2018,


Wood - Fair condition

A wooden mask - Dan - Côte d'Ivoire  (No reserve price)

African & Tribal Art

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A wooden mask - Dan - Côte d'Ivoire (No reserve price)

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