{"id":"MUS2026-147","label":"The Dan Mask with No Face","people_or_site":"Dan / western Cote d'Ivoire and northeastern Liberia","country_current":"Cote d'Ivoire","historic_region":"Dan country (western Cote d'Ivoire / northeastern Liberia)","macroregion":"Africa / West Africa","local_name":"","source_term":"rhombe","source_language":"French","object_description":"Cord-whirled wooden board used as the voice of a sound-mask.","function_summary":"For certain Dan 'naked masks' that are exclusively sonic, the rhombe replaces a human voice; non-initiates must not see the instrument.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"EDMU2014_DAN_RHOMBE","source_type":"ethnomusicology_source_summary","source_url":"https://www.edmu.fr/2014/08/introduction-generale-aux-musiques-d.html","page_or_plate":"Dan section of online source","map_confidence":"low_medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Man / Tonkpi regional anchor for the western Cote d'Ivoire portion of the broad Dan country named by the source; not a source-named village or findspot.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Dan of the Côte d’Ivoire–Liberia frontier, some masks had no face at all. These “naked masks” existed only as sound: a wooden board spun at the end of a cord replaced the human voice, while non-initiates were forbidden to see what produced it.","pull_quote":"un rhombe, planchette en bois que l'on fait tournoyer au bout d'une corde","pull_quote_translation":"a rhombe, a wooden board that is twirled at the end of a cord","pull_quote_cite":"Introduction generale aux musiques d'Afrique noire, Dan section.","term_gloss":"rhombe: the French source term for the bullroarer.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Hugo Zemp, Musique Dan (Paris/The Hague: Mouton, 1971); 'Introduction générale aux musiques d'Afrique noire,' Dan section; CREM-CNRS, CNRSMH_E_1966_005_001","url":"https://www.edmu.fr/2014/08/introduction-generale-aux-musiques-d.html","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260419150350/https://www.edmu.fr/2014/08/introduction-generale-aux-musiques-d.html"}],"source_citations":"Hugo Zemp, Musique Dan (Paris/The Hague: Mouton, 1971); 'Introduction générale aux musiques d'Afrique noire,' Dan section; CREM-CNRS, CNRSMH_E_1966_005_001","source_display":"Hugo Zemp, Musique Dan (Paris/The Hague: Mouton, 1971); 'Introduction générale aux musiques d'Afrique noire,' Dan section; CREM-CNRS, CNRSMH_E_1966_005_001","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Cord-whirled wooden board used as the voice of a sound-mask.","function_display":"For certain Dan 'naked masks' that are exclusively sonic, the rhombe replaces a human voice; non-initiates must not see the instrument.","confidence_display":"low to medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"dan","display_name":"The Dan Mask with No Face","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/bm_E_Af1952-07-110.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/thumbs/bm_E_Af1952-07-110_thumb.jpg","alt":"A Nigerian bullroarer rig with a reddish wooden blade joined by cord to a long stick wrapped near one end.","credit":"© The Trustees of the British Museum (Af1952,07.110)","license":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","source_page":"https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1952-07-110","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"British Museum Af1952,07.110","pool_id":"auto-museum_harvest--bm_E_Af1952-07-110","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-08-11"},"slug":"mus2026-147-dan-western-cote-d-ivoire-and-northeastern-liberia"}