Height: 33 cm
Culture group:
Ekoi complex
Country: Nigeria
Region: Cross River
Object name: Headdress, head
Object gender: anthropomorphic
Medium: Wood, hide, bone
Skin covered mask of Cross River.
There is quite bit of material written about the masks (Amary Talbot, Alfred
Mansfeld, Keith Nicklin, Robert Farris Thompson, Kenneth F Campbell, Angelika
Tunis, Hans-Joachim Koloss)
but most of it is contradictory and based on very little research.
Like most Ekoi masks this one just represent a human face .
Most skin covered masks are believed to have replaced the practice of dancing
with head crests made from dried human heads or skulls after head hunting
practices were outlawed.
This masks
sounds very intriguing with the special 4 wooden pins above the head.
Research by Brigitte Hecker among the Yakurr people of the Upper Cross River
shows that at least the skin covered heads with coiled coiffures were and are
used by Warrior and Hunter societies.
This piece is in the Yale database under number 0070680
it was also at
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, Germany, 12 May 2007. Lot 262
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, Germany, 14 March 2009. Lot 208
Photo Copyright: Courtesy of Zemanek
Other related objects in that workshop in the Yale database: 0011220,
0011240, 0030217, 0049252
compare also with Christie's, London, 30 November 1994. Lot 114 and another
piece with 4 wooden pins Sotheby's, New York, 6 May 1998. Lot 308,
If
you are you interested in adding a Ekoi head
coming from
Lucien van de Velde to your collection please click here to send me an email and
I'll get in touch with you.
This is a genuine Ekoi head since the skin
is made from antelope skin and because the patina looks natural with several
layers of offerings, The pins on the head representing the coiffure are in
wood, the underlying wood clearly has a darker color than fresh wood. Raffia and
wooden teeth colored with kaolin, and the skin became a bit stiff due to aging.
Clear remains of offerings.
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If
you are you interested in adding a Ekoi head
coming from
Lucien van de Velde to your collection please click here to send me an email and
I'll get in touch with you.
It has a good provenance since it is coming
from the well known Lucien van de Velde collection.
+32
3 227.35.40
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