Rare zoomorphic mask "gugwom" (Crocodile?) · Nigeria, Northern Benue, Montol (Goemai) · ID: 3042821
not available anymore
Size
H: 60,5 cm
H: 23.8 inch
Description
wood, brown patina, camwood powder, helmet-shaped corpus with elongated open snout, teeth and forehead crest marked by jags, drilled holes in pairs on each side, slightly dam., minor missing parts (crest, left side of the head), traces of insect caused damage (underside of the snout), crack, base.
The mask was worn horizontally on the head. Arnold Rubin (1988) reported that the mask type appeared on harvest festivities and chiefly burials.
Comparing literature
Berns, Marla C. et. al., Arts of the Benue River Valley, Los Angeles 2011, p. 343, ill. 10.46 Wittmer, Marcilene K. & William Arnett, Three Rivers of Nigeria, Atlanta 1978, p. 94, ill. 219