Water spirit mask · Nigeria, Ijaw · ID: 3043807
Egon Günther, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sotheby’s, New York, 18 November 2000, lot 87
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 28 May 2011, lot 233
Description
wood, pigment, inscribed “EG”, base
The Ijaw believed that they shared the rivers dominating their environment with beings they called the “Water People” and they paid tribute to these quasi-human spirits in their masquerades. A myth from the Kalabari (eastern Ijaw city-state) tells how a woman abducted by water spirits returned to teach her townspeople the plays she had seen beneath the water.
The object Water spirit mask with the object ID 3043807 was last part of the auction 89th Tribal Art Auction at July 7, 2018 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 289.
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.
Publications
Werth, Albert Johannes, Art of Africa, African Art from South African Collections/Kuns van Afrika, Afrika-Kuns uit Suid-Afrikaanse Versamelings, 1970, p. 171
AHDRC: 0095706
Exhibition
African Art, South African Collections, The Fifteenth Transvaal Academy, Johannesburg 1969 & Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria 1970