mask

-Dogon mask made from natural fibres. The skull of the mask is dark brown, and is crocheted together to form a base. From this the face of the mask is sewn, this is also made of dark brown woven fibre. It has two eye holes and has white shells sewn on it. There is a small fringe on the bottom of the front piece. The back of the mask is also dark brown woven material decorated with shells. Loose single twisted fibres are attached to the skull. At the top of the head is a different fibre that has been braided. This is the basis of the mohican that is made from the same material as the braid. At the top of this mohican are small beads secured with stitches, and on top of these are even smaller beads. The sides are lengths of fibres (brown, pink alternate) that are woven together at three intervals.

The crest hairstyle on this mask suggests that it is a representation of a Fulani woman representation. The young Fula women wear their hair in richly ornamented crests (in the case of this mask, decorated with cowries and beads) of variable heights and thickness. Different types of ornaments can include small gold rings, beads, and coins. From the mid eighteenth century the arrival of foreign silver coins were incorporated into jewellery. In this case, the plaits fall down on either side of the crest.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk