Detail View: The AMICA Library: Mask with Female Figure Holding a Vessel

Dogon masks combine layers of social and religious meaning with simplifed and balanced form. The headpiece of this mask represents an antelope in highly stylized form, with the addition of the beak of a bird, dobu, which has an unusual habit of flinging dirt when it scratches the ground for food. The female figure above refers to an older woman of the village who supplies food and drink to men's secret masking societies. Her calabash would contain grain, and like the bird imagery is a reference to nourishment. In performances the dancer wearing a Satimbe mask moves decorously, in honor of the older woman, but also imitates the scratching of the dobu bird.