Face mask "idiok ekpo" · Nigeria, Ibibio · ID: 3053347
Starting price
EUR 1,000
Estimated price
EUR 2,000
Provenance
Private Collection (1979)Sotheby’s, London, United Kingdom, 23 July 1979, lot 183
Size
H: 23 cm
H: 9.1 inch
Description
wood, pigments,
During mask performances of the “ekpo” society, reincarnated ancestors who were immoral, agitated and wayward are represented in masks called “idiok ekpo”, whose moral ugliness is indicated through the dark surfaces and disfigurations from diseases like “gangosa”, facial paralysis or leprosy.
Publications
AHDRC: 0092006