Anthropomorphic mask "mfon ekpo" · Nigeria, Ibibio · ID: 3053768
Starting price
EUR 2,000
Estimated price
EUR 4,000
Provenance
Irwin & Marcia Hersey, New York, USA (until 1989)Sotheby’s, New York, USA, 8 May 1989, lot 298
Senator Jack Faxon, Detroit/Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA
Danish Private Collection
Size
H: 27 cm
H: 10.6 inch
Description
wood, pigments, various handwritten and printed labels on the back, base
The theme of duality, an underlying motif throughout the art of Africa, is demonstrated in many ways in the masking traditions of southeastern Nigeria. Its most obvious manifestation is found in Ibibio “ekpo” society masquerades.
Here, representations of unrestrained and dangerous dark spirits “idiok ekpo” of those who have died socially undesirable deaths are juxtaposed with the serene pale countenances of beneficial and revered spirits “mfon ekpo”.
Comparing literature
Wittmer, Marcilene K. & William Arnett, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, p. 68, ill. 160
Publications
AHDRC: 0092286