Helmet mask with figural superstructure ·  Nigeria, Cross-River, Igbo, Ekoi Complex, Akparabong · ID: 3051683

Description

wood, colour pigments, metal, slightly dam. (nose)

Elaborately worked helmet mask, crowned by two disc-shaped openwork elements, a bird and two anthropomorphic figures in the shape of a man with a walking stick and a soldier. Many separately worked elements fixed with nails complement the object: the pipe in the soldier’s hand, the horn-shaped extensions of the hairstyle, and the funnel-shaped decorative elements on the back.

Comparing literature

Wittmer, Marcilene K. & William Arnett, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, p. 77, ill. 181