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Rabbit Mask (walu)
Dogon
20th century
Object Place: Mali
Medium/Technique
wood, paint, metal
Dimensions
Overall: 36 x 16.5 x 13 cm (14 3/16 x 6 1/2 x 5 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Geneviève McMillan in memory of Reba Stewart
Accession Number2009.2608
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Africa and Oceania
ClassificationsMasks
The meaning of Dogon masquerades and masks has been open to much speculation. There are more than seventy-eight different Dogon mask types, ranging from animals and humans to abstract configurations. This rabbit mask is among several types of Dogon masks that represent animals of the hunt. In Dogon cosmology, it is the rabbit that ate the first crops planted by the fox. Along with the monkey mask, the rabbit mask represents animals that pose a threat to crops.
ProvenanceGeneviève McMillan (b. 1922 - d. 2008), Cambridge, MA; 2008, to the Geneviève McMillan and Reba Stewart Foundation, Cambridge; 2009, gift of the Geneviève McMillan and Reba Stewart Foundation to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 17, 2009)