Dan
Champion Brush Cutter’s Hat
Dan, 1900-1932
Scroll
Dan
Champion Brush Cutter’s Hat
Dan, 1900-1932
Physical Qualities
Plant fibers, feathers, 8 11/16 x 9 1/16 x 9 5/8 in. (22 x 23 x 24.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Catherine O'Carroll Bussell and Robert Bruce Bussell, Arlington, Virginia
Object Number
1998.437
This hat may have been modeled after the type of headgear formerly worn by important Dan warriors. However, the elaborate textural design—undulating light and dark woven rows, fiber tufts, cut feathers, and dense brush-like crest—suggests the hat’s function as an emblem of great honor. It was awarded to the strongest and most effective brush cutter who led teams of men to clear fields for agriculture. An American economic advisor to the Liberian government, Conrad Turner Bussell, collected the hat in Liberia during the 1920s.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1998; collected in Liberia between 1923-1929 by the parents of donor (Bruce Bussell): Conrad Turner Bussell and Pauline Bussell. Mr. Bussell was sent by the U.S. Government under President Calvin Coolidge to survey the boundaries of Liberia. He was, instead, made Supervisor of Customs by President Charles Dunbar Burgess King of Liberia, and later made Financial Advisor to President King. Mrs. Bussell arrived in 1926.
Nichole Bridges, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Hand Held: Personal Arts from Africa," Sept. 25, 2011-Feb. 5, 2012.
BMA Today, 'In the Spotlight: A Collection from Liberia in the 1920s,' p. 12
Baltimore Museum of Art. BMA Today. Fall 2011. p. 17.
