Game Board

CultureDan peoples

Date20th century

MediumWood and metal

DimensionsOverall: 33 1/2 × 7 5/8 × 5 1/4 inches (85.09 × 19.37 × 13.34 cm)

Credit LineGift of Estelle and Morton Sosland

Object number80-50/1

On View

Not on view

Collections

African Art

Terms

Exhibition History

African Mankala, National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, June 20-October 7, 1984, no. 15.

Gallery Label

The carved head embellishing this beautifully carved game board may represent an idealized portrait of the owner's favorite wife. The carved head displays Dan ideals of female beauty: an oval face, eyes with lowered lids and full, expressive lips. Beneath an elaborate hairdo, the gracefully curved forehead is enhanced with a vertical pattern of raised tattoo markings-vertical patterning the carver has continued along the length of the board. The incised rings around the neck represent neck creases, which accentuate the beauty of a long neck-a feature echoed in the incised neck that joins the game piece cup to the board.

Provenance

With Everett Rassiga (1922-2003), New York, NY, by 1970-1980 [1];

Purchased from Rassiga, through the Sales and Rental Gallery, Kansas City, MO, by Estelle (1925-2021) and Morton (1925-2019) Sosland, Kansas City, MO, by December 16, 1980 [2];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1980.

NOTES:

[1] This object is reproduced in an advertisement for Everett Rassiga Inc. in African Arts 3, no 2 (Winter 1970), 83. Rassiga also offered it for sale at Fine African and Oceanic Art, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, November 14, 1980, lot 130, but it failed to sell.

[2] According to Morton Sosland, in a letter to Ralph T. Coe, Director, December 16, 1980, NAMA curatorial files. The Sales and Rental Gallery was a space within the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art where dealers and private collectors could offer art objects for sale.

Published References

Advertisement, African Arts 3, no 2 (Winter 1970), 83, (repro.).

Fine African and Oceanic Art (New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1980), unpaginated, lot 130, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 87, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 250, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.