Minneapolis Institute of Art

Do mask

Ligbi artist

Date

second quarter of 20th century

Medium

Wood, metal

Culture

Ligbi

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

African masks sometimes feature an animal or person on top; in this case, there’s a rectangular panel with a knob. It represents a Qur’anic board, a kind of plank used throughout Africa as an aid in learning to read and write Arabic for religious purposes. Among the small subgroup of African masks used in Muslim communities during Islamic festivals, this one would have been used by the Do association of the West African Ligbi people and their neighbors during masked dances marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Côte d'Ivoire

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