Big mask "idiok ekpo" ·  Nigeria, Ibibio · ID: 3036066

Description

wood, encrusted dark brown patina, expressive facial features and flat headgear, originally provided with hinged jaw (now missing), dam., missing parts through insect caused damage, cracks, traces of abrasion, base;
among the masquerades of the “ekpo” society exists a number of quite different types of masks, which may be separated in two groups: the “ugly ghost” masks, “idiok”, which represent restless spirits, and the “mfon” masks which represent those spirits who have already reached paradise.

Comparing literature

Robbins, Warren M. & Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections, o.O. 1989, p. 268, ill. 700