DAN SPOON FIGURES ARCHIVES, Liberia

DAN Spoon 26 19.25" high SOLD

DAN Spoon 21 24" high SOLD*

*Donated to Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA

DAN Spoon 5 SOLD	DAN Spoon 11 SOLD	DAN Spoon 18 SOLD	DAN Spoon 19 SOLD
DAN Spoon 20 SOLD	DAN Spoon 22 SOLD	DAN Spoon 24 SOLD	DAN Spoon 25 SOLD

DAN Spoon 16 SOLD

DAN Spoon 17 SOLD

DAN Spoon 23 SOLD

DAN Spoon 27 SOLD

Photographs © Hamill Gallery

Large ceremonial ladles are carved to honor a particular Dan woman from each village quarter who has distinguished herself among her fellow women by generosity and hospitality. At special feasts, she dances with the ladle and directs the distribution of rice to those assembled. An elderly honoree passes the ladle and the honor on to the one she sees fit as a successor. This page of spoons shows some of the less common type, in which the handle takes the form of hips and legs. The form honors women as the source of food and life itself.

Despite their appearance, most of these Dan spoon figures show no evidence of age or use and were probably made to be sold.