Dance mask - Ogoni - Nigeria

Ogoni Mask (Nigeria).

16 cm

Rare masked portrait.
Face with fine and elegant features.

The Ogoni live in a fertile region east of the Niger Delta. They have preserved an active masked tradition, which traces its roots in their own customs but also in those of their neighbors such as the Ibibio or the Ijo. The mask performances serve various functions: in some regions, masks are produced solely to entertain the population, in others they participate in funeral ceremonies or in the annual yam festival, while elsewhere they intervene to enforce judicial decisions (Iris Hahner, Masques à démasquer, Geneva, Barbier-Mueller Museum, 2012, pp. 233, 234).

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