Elephant headdress for "ekpe" masquerade ·  Nigeria, Igbo, Ohuhu-Ngwa · ID: 3045005

Description

wood, tusks separately carved, polychrome painted,
In “ekpe” dances several pairs of headdresses appear. Present mask type, the masculine elephant-spirit is paired with a maiden-spirit considered his wife.

“Ekpe” festivals are year-end harvest celebrations thanking ancestors and Earth for abundant crops and children and honoring great warriors of the past.

The object Elephant headdress for “ekpe” masquerade with the object ID 3045005 was last part of the auction 90.I Tribal Art and 90.II Contemporary Native American Art at November 17, 2018 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 183.

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Comparing literature

Cole, Herbert M., Invention and Tradition, Munich, London, New York 2012, p. 110