Tribal Art

Dan Statue (N° 24457)

Seated, the naked subject presents scarified body motifs, a hairstyle composed of braids assembled in shells. He brings his hand to the breast, in a gesture relating to fertility, the second touches his thigh. Black greasy patina, encrusted residues of kaolin, lacks.
Gifts of women, food, festive ceremonies, and honorable status once rewarded dan carvers who were granted this talent during a dream. The latter was the means of communication of Du, invisible spiritual power, with men. Statuary, rare, had a prestigious role with its owner. These are mainly effigies of wives, lü mä, wooden human beings. These are not incarnations of spirits or effigies of ancestors, but prestige figures representing living people, often commissioned by the chiefs, whose names the statues will bear. They are placed in miniature boxes built for this purpose.