Lot: 106

102nd Auction

Leopard headdress

Nigeria, Yoruba

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
Bert Garrebeek, Beersel, Belgium
Almut Zintl-Wiegand, Worms, Germany
H: 10.2 inch 1500 EUR
plus 27 % commission, VAT, transport and insurance

wood, pigments, base

This beautiful headdress was possibly the property of the "egungun" society, which is dedicated to ancestor worship. Drewal noted in 1980 that animal imagery was common in "egungun" masking in order to demonstrate the powers of transformation possessed by supernatural forces (Drewal 1980, p. 85).


Drewal, Henry John, African Artistry, Atlanta 1980