Dance mask - Ogoni - Nigeria

Ogoni Mask (Nigeria).

16 cm

Rare masque portrait.
A face with fine and elegant features.


The Ogoni live in a fertile region east of the Niger Delta.
They have kept alive an active masked tradition, which traces its roots to their own customs.
but also in those of their neighbors, such as the Ibibio or the Ijo.
Mask outings fulfill a variety of functions: in some regions, masks are
They produce solely to entertain the population; in other cases they participate in the ceremonies.
funeral rites or at the annual yam festival, while they intervene elsewhere to enforce
the court decisions (Iris Hahner, Masks to Unmask, Geneva, Barbier-Mueller Museum, 2012, pp. 233, 234).


Depicted figure of the Ewe from Benin. In the Voodoo context, an intermediary to the gods...