Circular face mask for the "ekpo" society ·  Nigeria, Eket · ID: 3044036

Description

wood, pigment, base

Eket peoples, an Ibibio subgroup, share some style qualities and men’s societies (such as “ekpo”, “idiong” and “ekong”) with other Ibibio groups. The “ekpo” society is especially known for the large number of extremely varied masks it deploys during the planting and harvesting of yams.

Also the type of the small moon-shaped masks should, according to Neyt
have been danced at yam festivals and funerals by members of the society. The rituals are said to have been related to the female creator deity or “Great Mother” (“eka abbassi”) and the moon.

Comparing literature

Lebas, Alain (ed.), Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, Milan 2012, ill. 61 ff. Hahner-Herzog, Iris, Das Zweite Gesicht, Afrikanische Masken aus der Sammlung Barbier-Mueller, Genf, München, New York 1997, p. 52 f.

Publications

AHDRC: 0090096