• Dan Ritual "Spoon for a Generous Woman", Ivory Coast #894
• An anthropomorphic Dan Spoon, standing on strongly partitioned legs, a long neck decorated with feather- or leaf-like carvings; blackened patina with traces of long reverent use.
• This Ceremonial Feast Spoon, formed as an abstract female figure, is a symbol of High Ranking Women's Generosity and Talents and her Nurturing Nature (Fischer and Himmelheber in Falgayrettes-Leveau, Cuillers Sculptures, 1991, p. 73-88).
• Artists in Dan Communities of the Guinea Coast have mastered the art of carving these impressive, large wooden spoons that are...a pair of legs like this example.
• Among the Dan, the Owner of the Spoon is called "wa ke de", "at Village Feasts. It is a title of great distinction that creates a profound visual analogy that honors the Hostess, and Women in general, as a source of food and life.
• "These spoons are connected with the most remarkable Women in a clan or Village...a Successor from among the Married Women of the Clan." William Fagg, African Tribal Images, Cleveland, 1968, fig. 68
• Measurements: 37cm
  
• Condition: Excellent
• Lit.: The Arts of the Dan in West Africa, Eberhard Fischer and Hans Himmelheber, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 1984, 122. Fischer and Himmelheber in Falgayrettes-Leveau, Cuillers Sculptures, 1991, p. 73-88