113 - "Okoroshi" Igbo mask, Nigeria.

"Okoroshi" Igbo mask, Nigeria. A sculpture of remarkable artistic coherence, combining a face with elongated eyelids, cheeks accentuated by long oblique reliefs, and an open mouth revealing incised teeth, with a second head rising from the top of a headdress featuring thick, sculpted strands. The latter, surrounded by radiating elements and crowned with cylindrical forms, powerfully extends the mask’s vertical composition. The surface of the wood displays deep brown hues, amber tones on the raised areas, and traces of lighter material in the recesses. The interior hollow reveals work done through successive removal of material, consistent with the traditional use of an adze. An exceptionally close stylistic parallel can be drawn with an Igbo Okoroshi mask from the former Lucien Van de Velde collection, which subsequently passed into the collections of Mariette Henau, Alan Brandt, and Myron Kunin. Formerly in the J. Lecluse collection, Liège. Comparative reference: Igbo Okoroshi mask, formerly in the Lucien Van de Velde collection, later in the Myron Kunin collection, Sotheby’s, New York, November 11, 2014, lot 60 Height: 45.5 cm