Bidjogo
Bull Mask (Dugn’be)
Bidjogo, 20th century
Physical Qualities
Wood, pigment, kaolin, cow horns, plant fiber, iron, 9 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 12 in. (24.1 x 41.9 x 30.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Gilbert and Jean Jackson, Potomac, Maryland
Object Number
2008.14
This strikingly naturalistic 20th century Ox mask has its roots in the 15th century cattle trade. Oxen arrived on the Bissagos Islands thanks to Portuguese sailors, who traded the animals for cloth and other goods. A post-adolescent Bidjogo man once wore
this mask during a ceremony that ushered him into a 10-year period of his life called cabaro. During the ceremonies that precede cabaro, young men celebrate the wild nature of their upcoming teens and twenties by putting on masks like this one and imitating the
aggressive behavior of oxen.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2008; Gilbert Jackson, Potomac, Maryland; formerly Michael Strouts collection
African Reinstallation, "Modern Masquerade," April 2015, Wurtzburger Galleries, BMA, Kathryn Gunsch.
On View: Wurtzburger, Gallery
