Anthropomorphic face mask "mfon ekpo" · Nigeria, Ibibio-Anang · ID: 3050858
sold
EUR 1,500
Provenance
Rolf Kunitsch, Münster, GermanyZemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 12 May 2001, Lot 344
Werner Zintl, Worms, Germany
Size
H: 26 cm
H: 10.2 inch
Description
wood, base
Appearances by the “ekpo” masks are regarded as visits by the ancestral spirits (“ekpo”) represented by the masks.
This mask shows a realistic depiction of a beautiful female face. It is the embodiment of a “beautiful spirit” - “mfon”, which is primarily used for entertainment.
“Ekpo” masks show a contrastive aesthetic of beauty and ugliness. Artists use asymmetry and disproportion in their mask-making to recreate and comment upon the incongruities and contradictions of human existance, while symmetry and elegance convey ideas about morality and essential goodness.
Comparing literature
Hahner-Herzog, Iris, Das Zweite Gesicht, Genf, München, New York 1997, ill. 49