Rare panneau de masques de la société "ekpo
Lucien van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium
Didier Claes, Brussels, Belgium (2007)
Christie’s, Paris, 11 December 2014, lot 153
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, 7 July 2018, Lot 258
Belgian Private Collection
Description
wood, pigment residues, strongly encrusted surface structure,
This panel is characterised by its unusual size. It is carved with a pair of human figures in half relief and four circular raised decorative elements.
The largest, at the bottom, bears a masked face with openwork eyes in the centre. The back of the board is concave - probably intended to give the dancer’s head space and visibility. Wooden sticks attached to the back are the remains of a framework that was originally used for attachment.
In Neyts’ standard work on Eket art, a number of mask panels are illustrated, often in three parts, but always of smaller dimensions. Only one panel published by Lebas (Lebas, 2012, cat. 60) is comparable in size. Here we also find a round mask from the Develon Collection (Lebas, 2012, cat. 62), which shows the same motif of the circular raised and recessed decorative element with carved mask face.
Littérature comparée
Lebas, Alain (ed.), Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, Milan 2012, cat. 60Publications
Claes, Patric Didier with François Neyt, "Nigerian Primitivism", Brussels 2007, p. 12, ill. 2; van de Velde, Lucien, "South East Nigeria, Lower Niger. Benue. Cross River", Antwerp 2009AHDRC: 0090376