Mask - Congo (No reserve price)

African tribal art. An African mask, a rare Ijo mask representing a porcupine. The body of the animal is bristling with sticks depicting the quills, with rims pierced by openings where the raffia ornament was fixed. The base of the mask is eroded.

The Ijo, inhabitants of the Niger Delta, derive their subsistence mainly from fishing and agriculture. Their small villages are located in marshy areas to the west of the Nun River, which naturally influenced their cosmogony.

There are numerous references to their warrior past in their reliquaries, rites and masked celebrations. Their masks and other productions are intended to honor the aquatic spirits, called "oru" or "owuamapu", whom they venerate and to whom sacrifices were offered. Fishermen had to avoid offending these spirits, as they could provoke their wrath, manifested through the various dangerous animal species of the region such as hippopotamuses, crocodiles or the