Context (CMS Context)
Plastazote foam in interior of mask part of display mount. Mount also stored with the object.
Event Date 23/6/2014
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (CMS Context)
Exhibited in the Micro Gallery MAA from 13 March 2013 - 19 May 2014 as a means to raise awareness and funding for the acquisition of the G.I. Jones Collection. The exhibition label for 2014.293 and 2014.297 reads: '‘Beautiful’ and ‘comic’ Lughulu masks Wood, camwood stain, kholin pigment and a glass button. Isu-Item Igbo. Probably Ugwu Eke Alayi town and Item town, Cross River area, Nigeria. Probably 1930s. The Lughulu masquerade was performed by the Item and Alayi groups but little is known about it. The characters wore two types of masks, beautiful, which were female and white-faced, or stained red/brown with camwood like this one: or ugly, which were white faced or stained black. These were considered comic rather than fierce as among the neighbouring Anang Ibibio.'
Event Date 4/6/2014
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (CMS Context)
White square label in the mask's interior reads [in manuscript]: 'Ibo/Item'.
Event Date 4/6/2014
Author: Remke van der Velden

Description (Physical description)
Mask of wood, with a plant fibre plaited string around the rim of the mask and pigment. White face with two brown horn-shaped protrusions on the top. The tips of the horns have broken off. Numerous abrasions and paint/pigment flaking. Used in the Lughulu masquerade. Condition: Fair.
Event Date 4/6/2014
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
Publications by G.I. Jones: Jones, G. I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.
Jones, G. I., 1989. Ibo Art. Shire Ethnography. Shire Publications.
Event Date 4/6/2014
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (CMS Context)
Gwilyam Iwan 'G.I.' Jones (1904 - 1995) was a colonial officer in southern Nigeria from 1926 to 1946, before becoming Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College. He undertook further periods of fieldwork and published major books on southern Nigeria that are still highly regarded for their sensitivity to historical complexity.
For more than twenty years, MAA has cared for Jones’ exceptionally rich photographic archive, which documents the great masquerade traditions and other aspects of the culture of the region. In February 2013 the Museum acquired part of Jones’ personal collection of artefacts, assembled over the decades he worked in Igboland, the Cross River and other regions. The group of masks, carvings and other works represent vital aspects of belief, history and art over the middle twentieth century.
The G.I. Jones collection of West African material was purchased on February 1 2014 from his widow Ursula Jones who generously allowed MAA to select from G.I.’s personal collection in her home. Purchase funded partly through donations by Jesus College, John Goodliffe, Margaret Risbeth and the Wenbam Smith Family (as of June 3 2014).
Event Date 4/6/2014
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Mask. Used in the Lughulu masquerade. Wood, with a plant fibre plaited string around the rim of the mask and pigment. White face with two black and white horn-shaped protrusions on the top. The tips of the horns have broken off. Numerous abrasions and paint/pigment flaking.
Event Date 22/9/2021
Author: Louise Puckett