Lot: 289

84th Tribal Art Auction

Anthropomorphic mask

Nigeria, Idoma

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
Milton & Shirley Glaser, New York/Woodstock, USA
H: 8.7 inch This object is not available anymore.

wood, facial plane whitened with kaolin, black colour accents, coiffure with three horn-like projections on the forehead, inserted wooden teeth, raised scarification marks, drilled holes around the rim with fabric border, slightly dam., abrasion of paint, rep. (two of the horn-like projections broken), base;
a very comparable object can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Masks whitened with kaolin are common features of Idoma art. They are used in establishing a link with the afterlife and the spirit world. It appears these masks were used during funerals.


Lebas, Alain (ed.), Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, Milan 2012, p. 280