Context (CMS Context)
Decorative motifs: Human head: face-painting 3:3; headtop (scalloped2); forehead (barline2); ears (arcs4); eyes (oval7:cowrie); nose (club1); cheeks (ovals3); mouth (crescent2); neck (short); neck ornament (crescent); chin mark (bar2a). Face: eyes (oval2); nose (club5); endmouth (toothed2). Geom: ovals14; curves11b; curves2. Fish? Museum record photographs: F4,17, F13,15. Basel Museum fur Volkerkunde numerical code: 8.1.3.; Collected by: Bateson.G;
Event Date 29/6/1995
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Human head on tapering fretted trunk and 2-pronged hook base. Head ovoid with concave eye surrounds, raised oval eye rings and cowrie shell eye inlay. Pierced bulbous club nose has red fibre tassel through pierced nostrils. Double pierced semiovoid ears also have red fibre tassels through piercings. Crescent mouth. Delicate face painting, red against white. Tied red fibre twine loop around neck. Trunk near triangular and carved with curved fret design on either side of a crescent ridged mid-rib with circles in fretwork at mid-length. One white crescent rib below neck, rest of trunk painted red. Maskette carved in centre of hook base at front with nose and eyes distinct. Shallow lug on inside edge of top of neck at rear of head, has long twined fibre loop through its. Paint slightly worn. Original accession notes: " Wooden hook. Carved by SHAVANDO. This specimen was made for sale to whites. Human head, openwork body, hook end represents fish. Uses: these hooks are hung in houses and used to suspend food and other objects. The carvings are invariably compound representation of totemic ancestors. Friendly spirits (MBWAN) are believed to take small portions of such food during the night, but I know of no ritual connected with this, the hooks appear outwardly merely useful for hanging up food which is afterwards eaten in ordinary way. Often rat guard is fixed above the hook." Good
Event Date 29/6/1995
Author: maa