The ownership of this object was transferred to Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) in November 2022.
A wooden mask. Benin City. This mask has been identified as Western Ijo, representing a water spirit, owu. It was sold to the Horniman in July 1897 with an 1897 Benin City provenance by Mr. E. Cook. It has a historical label stuck to the back, which reads "Mask from Benin". The mask has a large crack that runs through the the fin-like headpiece, and is damaged towards the bottom.
This broken and possibly incomplete water spirit masquerade headdress largely conforms to the Western Ijo style. The extraordinary forms of these headdresses frequently combine fish-like, and reptilian elements as well as abstract skull-like faces, with block-like mouths and cylindrical, protruding eyes. The face looks skyward when the masquerade headpiece is worn. According to Martha Anderson the forms of these headdresses were generally explained by Ijo interlocutors to look like water spirits as they appear when floating on the surface of the water, see Anderson and Peek, 2002, 152. The headdresses are part of a full masquerade costume and are used during performances at annual ceremonies in honour of the water spirits, owu. The aquatic world is referenced by the flared fishtail- or canoe prow-like form above the skull-like head.
