Zoomorphic crest mask ("big" mangam)

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Description

wood,, rest., missing parts, base

This mask shows the long, elegantly curved horns of the waterbuck (“Kobus ellipsiprymnus”) and belongs to the group of the so-called “great mangam”.

These masks were worn during events directed at securing agricultural success, promoting healing, and marking rites of passage as a part of a ritual complex called “mangam”.

A mask by the same artist published by Sweeney, 1970, Fig. 14.

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Comparing literature

Berns, Marla C. et. al., Arts of the Benue River Valley, Los Angeles 2011, p. 406 ff. Sweeney, James Johnson, African Sculpture, Princeton/Bollingen1970

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