Anthropomorphic headdress · Nigeria, Idoma / Igbo-Izzi · ID: 3048670
sold
EUR 2,200
Provenance
Ron Atwood, Portland, USAJo de Buck, Brussels, Belgium
Joris Visser, Brussels, Belgium
Size
H: 32 cm
H: 12.6 inch
Description
wood, pigments, base
This headpiece, an idealised image of female beauty, represents a female ancestral spirit.
This type is based directly on the principle of crest masks used during warrior dances, where seductive female crests respond to male masks consisting of real human skulls.
This particular type of mask was probably introduced late, between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Idoma territories.
Comparing literature
Lebas, Alain (ed.), Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, Milan 2012, p. 279, cat. 130
Publications
AHDRC: 0094156