Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card: 'Mask (obo). This is a heavy wooden mask, with a large domed head with a large serrated crest on top, and a long thin face. There is some incised decoration and the face has been painted white, with blue marks. (PTO). There is a large split on the left side near the face, piece missing.'

Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Auction / Sale)
Purchased using money from Prof. A.A. Bevan’s subscription to the Museum’s Accessions Fund.
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Labels & Markings)
Written on rear of face in blue pencil: 'FUGAR'
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Labels & Markings)
Written on rear of face in pencil: '2662'
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

Context (Field collection)
Collected by Northcote W. Thomas in Edo State, Fuga(r) (now Anvianwu) town. The inhabitants belong to the Edo ethnic group, and also identify themselves further as Avianwu people. The language they speak is also referred to as Yekhee. See Blench, R. M., 1995. The Work of N.W. Thomas as Government Anthropologist in Nigeria. The Nigerian Field, 60, pp.29.

Event Date
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (Related Documents)
Illustration on reverse of catalogue card.

Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Related Documents)
See E 1910.118 and E 1913.3 records for further details about the Thomas Collection from Nigeria. [T.Cotterill]

Event Date 7/5/2001
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Some fibre remains in the holes along the edge of the mask. Crack on crest and at base on back. [R.Hand]
Event Date 8/6/2001
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Head mask with a large flat protrusion running from the centre of the head to the back in a crest, with a jagged outer edge. It was once painted in white, brown and black colours which has now mostly worn off. The mask has a slim face, common in Igbo carvings. Right around the head holes have been drilled in the base to attach fibre from. The nose is slim, the face elegant. The holes in the eyes are for the wearer to see through. The teeth are exposed and the face ends in a tapering jaw. All of these are typical features of an Igbo mask, whereas it was collected from an Edo place. Perhaps the mask travelled before being collected or its maker was heavily influenced by the Igbo. The forehead is decorated with cross hatchings, painted black and white. Blue paint is visible below the lips. Six holes are discernible on each side of the head near the protrusion probably to attach fibre from. The middle of the protrusion also sports a hole. The ears are schematised but represented. Given its size the mask will have been used. A big slit is visible on the right hand side of the mask, as a result of age or expansion.
[Information provided by Dr Ohioma Pogoson, Honorary Curator of the Museum of the Institute for African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. January 2013.]
Event Date 29/1/2013
Author: maa

Context (Amendments / updates)
Record updated as part of the Museum Affordances project 2018-2020
Event Date 1/11/2018
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Carved wooden helmet mask with small face portion and large denticulated crest. The face is small and narrow with a pointed chin and curved mouth with teeth. The forehead is incised with diamond shapes and there are small ears either side, with two eye slits cut either side of the nose. The helmet section is plain, with four holes drilled in a row either side of the crest and two holes drilled either side of the crest at the front and back. There are holes drilled all around the edge of the helmet and face portions, some of which retain traces of string, and a small piece of red string or cloth in one hole at the bottom of the face. The face has been painted with white pigment, with blue used around the eyes, cheeks and mouth. There are traces of red pigment on the edges of the crest. A large split is present in the top of the helmet, with a section of wood missing at the bottom. There appears to be resin on the edges of the split. Some signs of water damage and insect activity, and a circular area of discolouration on the rear of the face from ?adhesive.
Event Date 1/11/2018
Author: Katrina Dring

Description (Physical description)
Obo or wooden helmet mask. Small face has narrow eye slits, cheeks and mouth decorated with possible Reckitts blue; forehead decorated with incised designs and possible which pigment; holes drilled around the edge of the face and helmet; large central crest with denticulated edge. Helmet is cracked, with resin from previous repair.
Event Date 28/9/2021
Author: Katrina Dring

Conservation (Assessment Only)
CON.2024.5855 | Assessment Only
Event Date 2/2/2024
Author: Stephanie De Roemer