Lot: 262

99th Auction

Figural headdress

Nigeria, Ibibio / Ogoni

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
H: 18.7 inch This object is not available anymore.

wood, kaolin, rest., base

A comparable figural headdress is associated by Fagg with "ka elu" mask performances by the Ogoni (AHDRC 0097095).

Kpone-Tonwe and Salmons report a "ka-elu" performance in July 1992 in Eeke, where more than twenty mask dancers were observed, each representing one particular family of the city. They moved from one family compound to the next t in order to bring blessings from the ancestors and dispel evil spirits.

According to Fagg, the "ka-elu" masque should have died out already before 1939.


Anderson, Martha G., Ways of the Rivers, Los Angeles 2002, p. 283 f.