Masque cimier zoomorphe ("grand" mangam) ·  Nigéria, Kantana (Mama) · ID: 3047076

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.

Littérature comparée

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