Masque casque "epa": figure équestre et figure féminine debout
Werner Zintl, Worms, Germany
Description
wood, red pigment, encrusted patina, traces of insect caused damage and weathering, rest.
The base of the mask consists of a double-faced helmet crowned by an equestrian figure representing a warrior, hunter and/or king (“jagun-jagun”). Since the forearms of the figure and thus its utensils (such as shield, spear, head trophy etc.) are missing, this can no longer be verified. The combination with a female figure suggests that a historically important ancestral couple could be depicted.
The figure style of this mask is unusual. The body and limbs are strikingly slender and elongated, the facial features show prominent short noses and semicircular mouths carved with pointed teeth. A comparable mask, probably from the same workshop, can be found in the holdings of the British Museum (Inventory no. 1924.12-20.2), published by Phillips, 1996, p. 420 (see also AHDRC 0109909). The latter can be proved to have reached England as early as 1924, where it was exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. Phillips assigns the mask stylistically to the village of Oye-Ekiti in the northern Ekiti region.
Littérature comparée
Phillips, Tom, Africa, The Art of a Continent, New York 1996, p. 420, 5.80Publications
Visser, Recent Acquisitions, Brussels, n. d, p. 8AHDRC: 0109917