DAN SPOON FIGURE 25, Liberia
Photographs © Hamill Gallery
DAN, WUNKIRMIAN FEAST LADLE 25, 19.25", $500, SOLD, Liberia
and Ivory Coast
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. The ladles had spiritual power
for the women the way masks had power for the men. 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.
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