African Arts Gallery

Dan Wakémia Spoon (N° 11941)

The usual objects in African art. The tribal art of the dan also produces everyday objects, including the famous carved wooden spoons, Wakémia, used in festive ceremonies, and granted by the villagers to a particularly generous and hospitable woman. The woman will use it to serve the meal and will wave it joyfully during the hospital woman's dances. As in many cases, this spoon has an anthropomorphic handle, here a face reminiscent of the mask deangled on a long ringed neck. The face is delicately chiseled, presenting in the hollows small residues of kaolin anointing. The elegant headdress is divided into two shells on which the braids appear. Geometric patterns with decorative value and by no means symbolic, are chiseled on the back of the spoon. Brown patina, oiled, soft-touch. Base included. Object on a pedestal: 56 cm.For the Dan of Côte d'Ivoire, also called Yacouba, two distinct universes oppose each other: that of the village, composed of its inhabitants, its animals, and that of the forest, its vegetation and the animals and spirits that populate it. In order for these spirits to be established, a specific area of the forest is designated and still preserved outside the villages dan. Sacrifices are also required in order to communicate through these spirits. Different types of dan masks have been listed, each with a specific function.