Mask "mma ji" · Nigeria, Igbo-Afikpo · ID: 3032207
Eduard Hess, Basel, Switzerland
Description
wood, painted in red, white and black pigment, oval hollowed form, carved with three tubular projections and a sickle-shaped horn on the forehead, cut with geometrical forms, accentuated by changing colours, plaited grass fibre band around the rim, rep. (projections);
the upright projection on this mask represents a yam-cutting knife (“mma ji”) which gives the mask its name. The mask is a popular Afikpo type and has a wide range of usage, eg. for harvest festivities and inititation rites of young boys, for their popular “okumpa” masquerades and other dramatizations.
Comparing literature
Wittmer, Marcilene K., Arnett, William, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, p. 32
Exhibition
Afrique Noire, Sculptures des Collections Privées Suisses, La Chaux-De-Fonds, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 27 Mars - 6 Juin 1971, Cat. No 154