Anthropomorphic helmet mask "agwe" · Cameroon Grassfields, Widekum · ID: 3045130
sold
EUR 1,000
Provenance
Koller, Zurich, 20 June 2011, lot 246Roland Hartmann, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Size
H: 45 cm
H: 17.7 inch
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.
Comparing literature
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, Munich 2009, p. 610