Elephant spirit mask "ogbodo enyi"

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Description

wood, slightly encrusted patina, schematized elephant head, distinctive painting in black and white with red accents enhancing the expressivity of the mask, min. dam., cracks, small missing parts, traces of abrasion, metal socle;
Izzi masks are controlled by the four male age groups, at which the members of the senior group owned the biggest examples, which represented the most dreaded and most powerful ghosts. In former times this mask type, which always showed an aggressive and violent behavior, controlled the social order, but nowadays they exclusively appear for entertainment. The holes at the lower rim served for attachment of raphia fibres covering the head of the dancer, who wore a long costume made of plaited plant fibres.

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Littérature comparée

Hahner-Herzog, Iris, Das Zweite Gesicht, Genf, München, New York 1997, ill. 55

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