Hornbill Mask

Artist Northern Dan Peoples (African)

Place of OriginLiberia

Datemid 19th-early 20th century

Dimensions21 1/2 × 8 1/2 × 6 in. (54.6 × 21.6 × 15.2 cm)

Mediumcarved wood

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1970.17

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 01

Label TextDan 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” (Dan saying).Published References

"African Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 16, no. 2, 1973, p. 31, repr. fig. 3.

Roberts, Mary Nooter, Facing Africa: The African Art Collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1998, pp. 50-51, repr. (col.).

Comparative ReferencesSee also Wassing, Rene, African Art, New York, Abrams, 1968, p. 119.

cf. Harley, George W., Masks as Agents of Social Control in Northeastern Liberia, Peabody Museum Papers, 32, no. 2, 1950.

cf. Harley, George W., Notes on the Poro in Liberia, Cambridge, Mass., 1941.