Anthropo-zoomorphic mask with horns ·  Nigeria, Afo · ID: 3051564

Description

wood, tripartite (horns worked separately, fixed with nails), pigments,

There are small remnants of former polychrome painting with pigments in bright colours (red, indigo blue) on the mask. Particularly striking are the radial incisions on both sides of the nostrils and the corners of the eyes and mouth.

Elsy Leuzinger collected a formally similar mask from the Afo on site and called it a bush cow mask (cf. Leuzinger, 1972, p. 220, N 25).

The object Anthropo-zoomorphic mask with horns with the object ID 3051564 was part of the auction Auction 103 on November 16, 2024, lot number 176 at that time and is currently available for EUR 2,000 in Open sale.

You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.

Comparing literature

Leuzinger, Elsy, Die Kunst von Schwarz-Afrika, Recklinghausen 1972, p. 220, N 25

Publications

Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Afrikanische Kunst in Deutschen Privatsammlungen, München 1973, p. 193, ill. 266; Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Afrikanische Kunst, München 1975, 171, Fig. 231 (as a drawing)

AHDRC: 0097222