October 22, 2016 - 00:01
The art piece I selected is a Dan Tribe ceremonial spoon from West Africa. I felt compelled to research this art piece because I first saw it pictured on a card that I had taken from the front desk of Canaday Library. On the back of the card, there is a description of the spoon, which helped me locate it in the TriArte database. Although I was able to find the spoon in the catalog, I noticed that the description on the back of the card differs from the description on the database. The card tells us that it can be dated back to the late 19th century, but the database tells us that it is from the early 20th century. The card says that the spoon is from Liberia, but the database says that it is from Côte d’Ivoire. These details, which are crucial to our understanding and appreciation of the object, are inconsistent. The time periods and places of origin are similar, but had there been no photograph uploaded to TriArte that I could match to the photograph on the card, I might have thought these were two different spoons. However, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired one of these traditional spoons as well, and its time period is listed as “19th–mid-20th century” and its geography is said to be “Côte d'Ivoire or Liberia,” so it is possible that the two sets of information I found could be used to define a range of time and places that the spoon could be from (the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
The dark, hardwood ceremonial spoon is carved in an anthropomorphic form, as a “stylized female body” (TriArte). It has a significant bowl, deep and wide enough to hold more food than an ordinary spoon. The spoon’s rounded, linear shape is described as a mix of “naturalistic and abstract forms,” with the handle carved in the shape of an abdomen and two legs (TriArte). It is positioned standing up on these legs on the postcard, which indicates that it is intended to be displayed upright. It is a large spoon, at 24.5 inches in length, and it has intricate carvings around its handle that mimic the effect of scarification on human skin. The dark patina of the wood contrasts sharply with the lighter wood exposed by etchings on the surface, highlighting the intricacy of the carving. The human form is reproduced in the fine craftsmanship of this spoon, animating this art form with human sensuousness and the suggestion of life.
According to the TriArte database, the spoon originated from the Dan tribe and was part of the Plass collection of African art donated to the College. The Dan people are an ethnolinguistic group of about 350,000 people living in a region encompassing eastern Liberia and western Côte d’Ivoire, and they are known for their beautifully crafted wooden masks and spoons (Britannica). These art forms are artistically valuable, but they also hold great social and spiritual meaning. The catalog’s description reveals that Dan spoons “embody ideas related to both human and agricultural fertility” (TriArte). Their cultural meaning hints at the structure of Dan society, since these spoons would “serve as status emblems” for women (TriArte). These spoons, called wunkirmian or wakemia which translates to "spoon associated with feasts," are bestowed upon a particular woman in the village who is renowned for her generosity, hospitality, caring nature, industriousness, culinary talent, and service to other people (The Met). This woman is called the wunkirle. The spoons would be used ceremonially in rituals and feasts. It is notable that this particular wunkirmian has legs for a handle, which is uncommon. It is more typical that the handles are carved in the shape of heads, animals, hands, or other abstract forms. The legs on the handle “represent all the people arriving on foot to be fed by its owner” while “the bowl, rounded and lustrous, symbolizes the womb of the ladle's spirit 'pregnant' with rice” (Johnson 1987, 20, Biro). In some ceremonies, the spoon is used to distribute “grains and coins to the children of the community” while the wunkirle dances and sings (Biro). This establishes a strong visual analogy of the woman as life-giver.
The wunkirmian has spiritual significance as well, acting as a “Dan woman's chief liaison with the power of the spirit world and a symbol of that connection. In the words of a wunkirle, Doa, [the spoons] contain ‘all the power and fame of the wunkirle’” (Johnson 1987, 19, Biro). The spoon therefore confers prestige, distinction, authority, and material gains onto the wunkirle. The spoon is eventually handed down from wunkirle to a chosen successor, who displays all the qualities of an ideal wunkirle, connecting women over the span of generations. The cultural meaning of the wunkirmian is symbolic of the performance of honorable womanhood and the service expected of women in society, the legacy of which is passed down through time.
The wunkirmian is a member of the collection donated by Margaret Plass, who attended but did not graduate from Bryn Mawr. Plass “developed a passion for collecting African art along with her husband…when they were stationed in the Belgian Congo by the U.S. Navy” (Pusey). There are many gaps in context for the art in the collection, and many “do not have an artist’s name listed and are instead credited to Neufeld and Plass, their collectors, or to the country or ethnic group from whence the object originated…It seems unlikely that Neufeld and Plass did not have access to artists’ names; rather, both collectors deemed such information unimportant” (Pusey). Additionally, “each wunkirmian is given an individual name,” which speaks to the significance and uniqueness of these spoons, but the name of this spoon has been lost (Biro). It is now nameless. It is unclear how exactly Margaret Plass acquired this piece of art, but one can speculate that its journey from the gracious hands of a wunkirle to the archives of Bryn Mawr is one fraught with erasure, estrangement, and inattention.
Image: http://www.randafricanart.com/Dan_Wunkirmian_spoon_1.html
Works Cited
"Object Results." Ritual Spoon. TriArte: Art and Artifacts Database, 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://triarte.brynmawr.edu/Obj146043?sid>.
"Dan." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Ed. Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dan-African-people>.
Biro, Yaëlle. "Ladle (Wakemia) | Dan | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/635756>.
Biro, Yaëlle. "Ceremonial Ladle (Wakemia or Wunkirmian) | Dan Peoples | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/312458>.
Pusey, Grace. "Black at Bryn Mawr." Black at Bryn Mawr. Bryn Mawr College, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2016. <http://blackatbrynmawr.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2015/02/25/engaging-backtalk-decolonizing-bryn-mawrs-african-art-collection/>.