Cimier de danse tête janus
Description
wooden core, coated with leather (mostly antelope skin), fixed by nails, openings of eyes and mouth left free, eyes inlaid with silver metal sheet, pupils from wood/metal aglets, phantastic bonnet from rattan covered with cloth and horse hair, faces dyed dark and light brown, painted with ornamental emblems, basketry base, slightly dam., abrasion of paint, base.
The Boki live in areas bodering the Cross River in both southeast Nigeria and Cameroon. Until very recently hunting associations were common throughout the region. A man could only achieve membership in such an organization once he had slain a wild animal. Such establishments often used such head crests in performances at specific times of the hunting year, and at the funerals of members.
Littérature comparée
Fagaly, William, Ancestors of Congo Square, New Orleans 2011, p. 234Publications
Galerie Ratton (ed.), Duo, Paris 2012, p. 42 f.AHDRC: 0125191