ClassificationsAfrican Art

Maiden Spirit (Agbogho Mmuo) Style Helmet Mask

Place CreatedNigeria, Africa

CultureIdoma (?)

Date20th Century

MediumWood, kaolin, charcoal

Credit LineEx coll. William S. Arnett

Dimensions16 1/8 x 9 1/16 x 9 1/16 in. (41 x 23 x 23 cm)

Object number1994.004.705

Label TextMasks are easily portable and therefore often develop "second careers" far from their places of origin. They are also widely copied, though usually with local modifications or "improvements." This mask of the northern Igbo Maiden Spirit type (Agbobho Mmuo) was probably made by a neighboring Idoma artist who had seen an Igbo version in performance, perhaps at an Idoma funeral or in a nearby Igbo village. It could also have been made by an Igbo artist for an Idoma masquerade group. The whitened face and elaborate hairstyle are typical of the Maiden Spirit mask, but the face is different from those on northern Igbo masks: fuller and more rounded, and with Idoma keloid scars on the temples and the more prominent mouth and teeth seen on Idoma face masks.

Igbo men wear "Maiden Spirits" masks to impersonate, in exaggerated form, the appearance and comportment of real and spirit maidens who appear in groups at annual dry season masquerades. But, meanings are easily detachable when masks and mask styles travel, and there is no reason to assume that this represents an Igbo "Beautiful Maiden Spirit." Idoma masks representing humans usually perform as a male and female pair, which the Idoma jokingly refer to as "husband and wife" spirits.
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
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, May 11, 1993 - July 1994
Art of Nigeria from the William S. Arnett Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, October 15, 1994 - January 2, 1995
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, Rotation 1, December 15, 1995 - February 1997
The Art of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Michael C. Carlos Museum, November 8, 1997 - January 4, 1998
MCCM Permanent Collection Installation, July 19, 2003 - March 13, 2007
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), 102-03, number 244.
Michael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 102.

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

Status

Not on view

Collections