ClassificationsAfrican Art

Ekeleke Masquerade Headcrest

Place CreatedNigeria, Africa

CultureWestern Igbo (southern Ika) or Isoko

Date20th Century

MediumWood, pigment

Credit LineEx coll. William S. Arnett

Dimensions29 15/16 x 4 3/4 x 6 11/16 in. (76 x 12 x 17 cm)

Object number1994.004.668

Label TextThis is a type of headcrest mask found amongst the southern Ika, a western Igbo peoples residing on the left bank of the Niger River (Kwale region) and Isoko peoples residing further to the south. G.I. Jones photographed such masks in the 1930s. In performance they are embellished with feathers inserted into holes along the back of the figure and across the feline figure at the top of the mask. Jones documented their performance in the Ogonya Play in Ogume village, southern Ika. Cole and Aniakor identify these as Ekeleke masks; however, Peek questions this attribution as for the Isoko, Ekeleke refers to masks performed with stilts, which are not worn in the performance photographed by Jones.
Exhibition HistoryThree Rivers of Nigeria: Art of the Lower Niger, Cross, and Benue from the Collection of William and Robert Arnett, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 1978
Art of Nigeria from the William S. Arnett Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, October 15, 1994 - January 2, 1995
Masquerade: Scripturalizing Modernities Through Black Flesh, A Pitts Theology Library Digital Exhibition, Emory University, 2021 (virtual exhibition)
Published ReferencesMarcilene K. Wittmer and William Arnett, Three Rivers of Nigeria: Art of the Lower Niger, Cross, and Benue (Atlanta: The High Museum of Art,1978), 57, number 135.

ProvenanceEx coll. William S. Arnett (1939-2020), Atlanta, Georgia, from at least 1978.

Status

Not on view

Collections