Description (Physical description)
Catalogue card: Mask, incised, comb-like piece of wood on head (manwu nwayi)
[different hand] This description seems to have been wrongly written on this card, since it refers to Z 14021. The label for Z 14230 says "Mask (oji onu), incised, painted yellow and black, two circular horns." Damaged by ants.

Event Date
Author: maa

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Description (Labels & Markings)
Written on the back of the mask in pencil: '374'
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

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Description (Labels & Markings)
Luggage tag attached with string reads: '374 / Oji onu'
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

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Description (Labels & Markings)
Thomas label adhered to rear of mask reads: '761 | Obu | 374 / Mask (oji onu), incised, painted yellow and black, two circular horns.'
Event Date
Author: Katrina Dring

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Context (Related Documents)
Catalogue has 'Negative No 49.9' written on it in a third hand
Pencil drawing on reverse of catalogue card

Event Date
Author: maa

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Context (Related Documents)
See E 1910.118 and E 1913.3 records for further details about the Thomas Collection from Nigeria.
Event Date 7/5/2001
Author: Katrina Dring

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Description (Physical description)
Both of the horns have been broken and repaired. Drilled holes around the edge of the mask.
Event Date 11/6/2001
Author: Katrina Dring

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Context (Related Documents)
The 2nd Thomas Catalogue, p.15, notes numbers 354-376 as Enugu. [R.Hand]
Event Date 4/9/2001
Author: Katrina Dring

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Description (Physical description)
Long, narrow forehead mask with two horns curled into circles. There are deeply incised lines on the horns and forehead, and further lines forming triangles on the sides of the face and under the nose. There are holes drilled around the edges of the mask, and the whole is painted in black, yellow and brown. The tip of one of the horns is missing, and both have been historically repaired with glue. There is extensive insect damage to the rear of the mask, especially around the mouth area, which seems to have been treated with a red substance. There is a small piece of metal inserted into the back of the mask.
Event Date 21/8/2018
Author: Katrina Dring

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Context (Amendments / updates)
Record updated as part of the Museum Affordances project 2018-2020

Event Date 21/8/2018
Author: Katrina Dring

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Loan (Exhibition)
Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, 14/10/2020 to 19/12/2020, [Re:]Entanglements
[loan cancelled]
Event Date 14/10/2020
Author: Katrina Dring

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Loan (Analysis)
Department of Conservation, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31-4 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0TY , 27/02/2020 to 30/06/2020, Museum Affordances Project
Event Date 27/2/2020
Author: Katrina Dring

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Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2020.4361 | Remedial
Event Date 9/3/2020
Author: Kirstie French

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Context (Display)
On display in [Re:]Entanglements: Colonial collections in decolonial times, LKS Gallery, MAA, 22 June 2021 – 20 April 2022, as number '3'. The open-display plinth recreated the objects featured in a fieldwork photograph in Obu by Northcote Thomas (MAA P.31227).

The display text noted '[Re:]Assemblage. Assembling collections of artefacts was a key part of the anthropological surveys led by Northcote Thomas. During their fieldwork with Igbo-speaking communities in 1910-11, Thomas and his assistants arranged artefacts in front of a canvas backdrop and photographed them as they were collected.
Everyday objects like cooking utensils and storage baskets were placed alongside musical instruments, political regalia, masks and shrine figures. Each item had a label attached with a number, its local name and a brief description of its use. A yam grater was treated no differently to the staff of an ozo title holder.
The canvas sheet was intended to isolate the objects from their local contexts. Our restaging, with its eye-catching backdrop designed by artist Alafuro Sikoki, draws attention to the context of colonial collecting.'

Event Date 22/36/2021
Author: rachel hand