Null Igala altar Nigeria
Wood
H. 37,5 cm
Rare Igala altar in the form of a cylin…

Description

Igala altar Nigeria Wood H. 37,5 cm Rare Igala altar in the form of a cylindrical shape with flared edges resting on a pedestal base decorated with engraving. The upper register is carved on both sides with two stylized figures in high relief. Between these figures appear geometric forms.

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Igala altar Nigeria Wood H. 37,5 cm Rare Igala altar in the form of a cylindrical shape with flared edges resting on a pedestal base decorated with engraving. The upper register is carved on both sides with two stylized figures in high relief. Between these figures appear geometric forms.

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Estim. 6 400 - 8 000 EUR

Large animal mask agbanabo. Igala, Nigeria. H 48cm. Published and exhibited! Illustrated in: K.-F. Schaedler, Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture, (2009), p. 281. Exhibited: 2010 at Galerie Pixis, Munich, Kurfürstenstraße. The Igala are a large ethnic group living southeast of the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, numbering around 400,000 people. On two days a year - one day in the rainy season and one in the dry season - the Igala honor their ancestors who live in the land of the dead. These days are called Ote Egu, literally drinks for the spirits, and all the ancestral masks appear and dance. There are also a number of royal masks, the most important of which consists of a fabric costume with various appliqué emblems, again interestingly featuring motifs from the ritual garments of the Jukun. The extremely rare helmet mask offered here is in the shape of a baboon's head with the typical elongated snout and white-rimmed eyes. The hairstyle consists of a black mass into which - as with the masks of human conception - abrus beans were inserted (only a few still exist). So far, only one other baboon mask has been published. It was recorded in situ in Idah, the capital of the Igala, by Kenneth Murray in 1949, also with white-rimmed eyes. Monkey masks are also occasionally found among other ethnic groups in Africa, such as the Hemba in the D.R. Congo (soko mutu), but this species is probably a physiognomic replica of a chimpanzee. Otherwise, baboon masks are not known among any other ethnic group in Africa and even among the Igala they only appear at certain masquerades, the festivals for the dead.

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