Mask with hinged jaw "idiok ekpo" · Nigeria, Ibibio · ID: 3034860
Description
wood, encrusted greyish brown patina, plant fibre, eyes with hanging lids and prominent tear sacks, plug-shaped scarifications at the temples, slightly dam., minor missing parts, socle;
among the masquerades of the “ekpo” society exists a number of quite different types of masks, which may be separated in two groups: the “ugly ghost” masks, “idiok”, which represent restless spirits, and the “mfon” masks which represent those spirits who have already reached paradise.
The object Mask with hinged jaw “idiok ekpo” with the object ID 3034860 was last part of the auction 73rd tribal art auction at May 25, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 229.
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Comparing literature
Wittmer, Marcilene K., Arnett, William, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, ill. 172