Mask ·  Nigeria, Igbo · ID: 3034863

Description

wood, the facial plane whitened with a thick layer of kaolin, facial features and scarifications accentuated by greyish brown paint, unusal topping with two leopard sculptures, remains of wooden plugs around the rim, slightly dam., missing part backside, rep. (rim), crack, traces of insect caused damage, socle;
belonging to the men’s secret “mmwo society”. Northern Igbo masks take many forms: helmets of various configurations, face masks and a variety of headdress and crest types. As a group they comprise perhaps the most diverse yet stylistically homogeneous array of masks produced by any African peoples.

The object Mask with the object ID 3034863 was last part of the auction 73rd tribal art auction at May 25, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 243.

You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.

Comparing literature

Wittmer, Marcilene K., Arnett, William, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, p. 17