Bassa Ma Go

Miniature masks from the Dan and related peoples of West Africa are commonly called passport masks. The indigenous name for them is ma go, which translates as “carved head.” Aside from being portable and sometimes carried by the owner as a protective talisman, passport masks have little to do with travel. According to the late William Siegmann, former curator of African art at the Brooklyn Museum, one of the prerequisites for membership in the all-male Poro Society was ownership, usually by commission, of a miniature society mask. Another name for them is yi luo po (“thing over which water is poured”), gba po (“thing which is fed”), or nyonkula (“substitute ancestor”). In keeping with these various descriptive names, ma go have varying patinas, from dry and well-handled to encrusted. The reason for this diversity is that ma go served multiple varied purposes. 

This particular example has a rich, well-handled surface. It may have been carried on a daily or intermittent basis, as it has been worn fairly smooth through use. Acquired in Liberia in the 1950s or ’60s by American missionary Jordan Holtam, a friend of the late William Siegmann, the Brooklyn Museum’s former curator of African art. $350

3″

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