Bushcow Face mask of the Do society (Siginkuru-Ayna)

Label Text"Something extraordinary is coming" is a chant preceding the hushed quiet before a Do dancer emerges in festive dress. Freshly repainted and adorned with jewelry, the face exemplifies feminine beauty. She is most often seen on important Islamic holidays such as Ramadan, when drumming, singing and dancing in fine clothes express the joy of the faithful that the period of fasting is over.

Object number81.17.264

Provenance[Harry Franklin, Beverly Hills, California]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1965; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, July 10 - Sept. 1, 1968 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Oct. 10 - Dec. 1, 1968). Text by William Fagg. Cat. no. 17 (as Horned Mask). Los Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 133-5, reproduced pl. 171 (as "do" mask).Published ReferencesBarringer, Tim, Gillian Forrester, and Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz, Art and Emancipation in Jamaica: Issac Mendes Belisario and His Worlds; Yale Center for British Art in Association with Yale University Press, pg. 90

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions12 1/4 x 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (31.1 x 19 x 8.9 cm)

MediumWood, pigment