Shoulder mask of the Wurkun, related to the Jukun, from the mountainous region called the Muri Mountains in eastern Nigeria, in the middle course of the Benue River valley; Bikwin and Kundul ethnic groups, Nigeria. The helmet part of the mask is colored with red pigments and white pigmented dots. Also the eyed are dyed in red pigments. The sculpture Shows a black, slightly shiny patina which shows signs of ritual use and age. Fragmented hair crest and a crack on the right shoulder. This helmet mask originates from the Jukun people of central Nigeria, particularly in the Benue River region. Worn during masquerades and important ritual performances, Jukun helmet masks are used to embody ancestral spirits and enforce communal values. Typically carved from wood and worn over the entire head, these masks often feature stylized human or animal traits, symbolizing power, protection, and connection to the spiritual world. The masks play a central role in initiation rites, funerals, and agricultural festivals, reinforcing social cohesion and ancestral reverence within Jukun society. “Within the body of figurative shrine sculptures that Arnold Rubin documented in northern Jukun communities, the examples he saw along the southern Taraba and northern Wase rivers, tributaries of the Benue, are distinctive enough to be considered a separate subgenre. In his Memoir" Rubin described the sculpture from the village of Wourbon Daudu, located along the Taraba River, as representing the "nuclear style" of Jukun figurative carving, Having had the opportunity to see many more examples than Rubin did during his lifetime, we argue here, that there was not a single "nuclear" style but rather several substyles that can be identified with particular Jukun town located north and south of the Benue river." Central Nigeria unmasked, Arts of the Benue River Valley, which are also influenced by other tribes in the region of the Taraba State, Nigeria. Yukun statues represent "ancestors, as well as wives and slaves. They are displayed during funerals, agricultural ceremonies, and in times of danger. During these rites, the figures serve as an intermediary between the priest and the ancestor’s world. The Jukun are an ethnolinguistic group or ethnic nation in West Africa, Nigeria. The Jukun are traditionally located in Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa, and Gombe States in Nigeria and parts of northwestern Cameroon. They are descendants of the people of Kwararafa. Most of the tribes in the north-central regions of Nigeria trace their origin to the Jukun people and are related in one way or the other to the Jukuns. Jukun, a people living on the upper Benue River in Nigeria, are commonly believed to be descendants of the people of Kororofa, one of the most powerful Sudanic kingdoms during the late European Middle Ages. The ruins of a great settlement to the northeast of the Jukun’s present location are thought to be those of the capital of that kingdom, but the claim has not been thoroughly investigated by archaeologists. The population speaks the language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family. The people comprise of a congeries of many smaller groups, each organized on a different basis, although polygynous extended families seem to be the dominant unit. The Jukun traditionally possessed a complex system of offices, which had both a political and a religious aspect; the priesthood practiced an involved form of religion marked by diurnal and annual rounds of ritual and sacrifice. The king, called Aka Uku, was—until he became a member of northern Nigeria’s house of chiefs in 1947—a typical example of a semi-divine priest-king." Brauer Museum of Art, Ancestral Statue. CAB41000