Mask "mma ji"

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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.

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Comparing literature

Wittmer, Marcilene K., Arnett, William, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, p. 32

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Exhibition

Afrique Noire, Sculptures des Collections Privées Suisses, La Chaux-De-Fonds, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 27 Mars - 6 Juin 1971, Cat. No 154

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