Tribal Art

Dan statues (N° 18604)

Rare figures of young couple dan, engraved with multiple scarifications, and wearing braids gathered in shells falling in 'dreadlocks' on both sides of the face. A very subtle differentiation of the faces marks the genre. Beautiful old patina deeply encrusted with kaolin. Desication cracks, slight erosions.
As gifts of women, food, festive ceremonies and honorable status once rewarded the dan sculptors to whom this talent was granted during a dream. The latter was the means of communication of Du, invisible spiritual power, with men. Statuary, rare, played a prestigious role with its holder. These are mainly effigies of wives, la m , wooden human beings. These are not incarnations of spirits or effigies of ancestors, but prestigious figures representing living people, often commanded by the chiefs, whose statues will bear the names. They are placed in miniature boxes built for this purpose. For the Dans of Côte d'Ivoire, also called Yacouba, two distinct universes are opposed: that of the village, composed of its inhabitants, its animals, and that of the forest, its vegetation and the animals and spirits that populate it. In order for these spirits to be established, a specific area of the forest is designated and still preserved outside the villages dan. Sacrifices are also required in order to communicate through these spirits.