Male dance crest "aku onu" · Nigeria, Jukun · ID: 3036873
Berndt Helleberg, Stockholm, Sweden
Description
wood, matt patina, kaolin, reddish pigment, oval mask face without recognizable facial features, carved with a cylindrical projection supporting an oval crest which is decorated with zigzag pattern in bas-relief, pierced around the rim, rep. (breakages at the projection and the mask rim), traces of insect caused damage and abrasion;
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.
The object Male dance crest “aku onu” with the object ID 3036873 was last part of the auction 77th tribal art auction at June 28, 2014 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 311.
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Comparing literature
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Lexikon Afrikanische Kunst und Kultur, München, Berlin 1994, p. 207