Hornbill Mask
Artist: Northern Dan Peoples (African)
Date: mid 19th-early 20th century
Dimensions:
21 in. (53.3 cm)
Medium: carved wood
Place of Origin: Liberia
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1970.17
Label Text:Dan masquerades provide tangible glimpses of mythology and give a form to spiritual presences. Masks function as judges, instructors, debt collectors, agents of social control, and entertainers. This mask, with its beak-like projection, represents Hornbill, the culture bearer of humanity. It is said that when Hornbill’s mother died, the corpse was buried “on the peak of the next generation.” Masks are considered to be the spirits themselves, who come to humans in dreams requesting to be manifested as a mask. Yet, masks are not static and can change identity and function over the course of a lifetime: “Masks have mixed characters like human beings.”
On view
In Collection(s)