Dan Bassa Mask

Dan Bassa Mask, Wood, Ivory Coast, Liberia

Length: 9.5 inches 

Width: 5 inches

Inventory # 10798

The Dan possess numerous mask figures that embody bush spirits and either fulfill social tasks or appear for the entertainment of onlookers.

Female masks with narrow eyes (such as those on this mask) appear as tankagle for the audience’s amusement, or as the singer-mask gle sö, which accompanies the “great mask” in demonstrating the power of the go society.

On the other hand, formally identical masks can be identified as passport, which serve to guard initiates from outside contact.