OGBODO ENYI IGBO IZI CIMIER, North-East Nigeria
Hardwood, black and white pigments, vegetable fibres.
L. 54 cm
Igbo-Izi mask stylizing the representation of an elephant with short projected tusks, its trunk shortened, its eyes conical. On the back is a human face with elegant features. The entire crest is enhanced by a rich black and white pigmented decoration.
This type of mask represents an elephant spirit, ogbodo enyi. While these masks, with their aggressive and violent behaviour, once controlled social order, today they are more often reduced to a role of entertainment.
In Masques africains - L'autre visage, from the Barbier Mueller collection, Editions Adam Biro, Paris, 1997, p. 146).
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