Male dance crest "aku onu"
Description
wood, brown patina, an oval, slightly vaulted mask face with triangular holes and a horseshoe-shaped snout with resin-like mass originally inset with abrus seeds, carved with a cylindrical projection with an oval crest in openwork design, min. dam., cracks, traces of insect caused damage, small missing parts, socle;
according to early research, this entirely abstract dance crest should represent a human head. According to C. K. Meek the openworked part depicts the ringlet, which the Jukun men used to wear on their clean-shaved heads. Thus the mask should have been worn horizontally on the head. But the triangular openings in the vaulted base could be interpreted as holes for looking through as well. (For discussion of the present mask type see: Richard Fardon, Fusions - Masquerades and thought style east of the Niger-Benue confluence, West Africa, UCLA 1969, p. 103 f., Jucunoid masquerades - fusion refracted by gender and animality)