Figural carved headdress ·  Nigéria, Ijaw · ID: 3037563

Description

wood, blackish brown patina, painted with dots in red and white (darkened), cylindrical base with four mask faces and remains of a rotan framework for carrying on the head, crowned by a male/female pair of figures and a third figure bigger in size to the front, unusual headdress: a separate worked element inserted in the back of the head, provided with drilled holes for insertion of feather ornament, slightly dam., minor missing parts, cracks, rep. (breakage/missing part at the base mended with pieces of metal sheet), base;
the Ijaw were the first to arrive in the delta of the Niger at around 800 AD. They believe in a single female god, “wonyinghi”, and in nature spirits “oru”, and spirits of the ancestors. Most rituals invoke nature spirits. The shrines are mainly devoted to them and virtually all the masks and sculptures depict them. The central and western Ijaw possess crests portraying standing figures that look like minature versions of sculptures found in the nature spirit shrines.

Littérature comparée

Lebas, Alain (ed.), Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, Milan 2012, ill. 40