Anthropomorphic headdress of the "oglinye" society · Nigeria, Idoma / Boki · ID: 3046484
Gösta Widén (1918/19-2010), Skanör-Falsterbo, Sweden
Widén Family Estate
Thomas Halling, Lund, Sweden (acquired around 2010 from the above)
Peter Willborg, Stockholm, Sweden
Widén was a passionate collector of ethnographic and modern art.
Many objects from his collection were donated to Swedish Museums.
Description
wood, animal skin, colour pigments, silver metal sheet, nails, basketry, coiffure from wooden pegs (partly missing) and lateral lobes separately carved, base
These crests depict ancestral female spirits who performed in war dances, as a counterpart to male masks that were originally supposed to be made of real human skulls.
The crest shows the typical hairstyle that was achieved with the help of a special paste and is reminiscent of a type of seated female figures, as used by the Idoma in fertility rites for the water spirit “Anjenu”.
Comparing literature
Lebas, Alain (ed.), Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, Milan 2012, ill. 130