Anthropomorphic helmet mask "agwe" · Cameroon Grassfields, Widekum · ID: 3045130
Roland Hartmann, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Description
wood, hide,
The Widekum live in the border region of Cameroon and Nigeria - in the western Grassfields, at the headwaters of the Cross River.
Next to leather-covered dance crests, wide-spread in the region, the Widekum are known for only one type of mask, also covered with leather, and called “agwe”. It depicts a kind of trickster spirit, who can cause good as well as evil.
The object Anthropomorphic helmet mask “agwe” with the object ID 3045130 was last part of the auction 91 Tribal Art Auction at March 9, 2019 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 277 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,000.
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
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 610