mask (dance & live theatre)

Mask, made from hard, black wood in form of goat's head, with movable jaw and beard of vegetable fibre.

Ekpo is the Annang word for ‘ancestor’ and also for the most important masquerade association. The masqurades of the Ekpo association commemorate the dead. This mask depicts an ancestor spirit, ekpo, in the form of a ram. The circlet shown worn beneath the horns indicates that the ancestor represented was a member of the diviners’ society, idiong. Members of the men’s ekpo society perform masquerades at funerals and at an annual festival.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
13.3.61/12
Date
late 19th or early 20th century
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 530 mm x 240 mm x 170 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
wood; vegetable fibre
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
In storage
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Collection Information

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