mask

A Dogon mask. The front and back panels are made from dyed dark brown woven fibre, with shells sewn on for decoration. There are two eye holes on the front panel, and green fringing at the bottom of the mask. The crown is crocheted dark brown fibre, with four shells sewn to it. Green fibre is sewn into this material at the sides, and cream coloured threads run parallel across these fibres. A dark brown natural fibre mohican, bound round a stiff base, is attached to the crown. Along this, green plaited string creates a pattern. Some of this string hangs down from the mask. On the top of the mohican are orange and yellow beads, linked together with thread. At the back of the mohican, three metal coins are threaded onto string. There is one coin attached to the front. Blue material is secured to either end of the mohican.

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The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive.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