CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Mask
Face mask, 1940 - 1985
About the object
The mask is deployed in dance when the harvest is approaching. This is also the time of the first rains and everyone is joyful when the mask makes its appearance. It probably depicts a spirit being. This is indicated by its white patination. The mask is most likely related to the Mami Wata complex.
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The face mask has been carved from pale-coloured wood. The face is flat and broad, with a low brow. The eyes are small, roundish and flanked by short eyebrows. The narrow nose is slightly widened at the nostrils. The broad mouth with narrow lips sits on a long, wide chin. The ears are round and are positioned asymmetrically slightly below eye level. The face is painted with white gloss paint. Three vertical tattoo lines each in the middle of the forehead and at the temples, short eyebrows, the outline of the eye, the line at the bridge of the nose, the outline of the lips and the vertical tattoo line between lip and chin are all rendered in black paint. The flesh of the lips has been painted red. The applied paint was partly mixed with dirt. A cloth made of beige cotton fabric has been applied around the edge of the mask. The head is adorned with a braided wig made of plant fibres. The forehead is decorated with cowrie shells.