IDNO

P.71365.GIJ

Description

Close up view of an Ibibio face mask. Representation of an oval face with rimmed head, high forehead with two round keloid markings, almond shaped eyes, nose, protruding cheeks, open mouth with inicised teeth, whiskers on either side of the mouth, and large rounded ears. Plant fibres surround the mask. The mask is highly polished darkened wood.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; near Ikot Ekpene; Ikot Abia village

Cultural Affliation

Ibibio; Otoro

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

circa 1930 - 1939

Collection Name

Jones collection

Source

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.71320.GIJ to P.71399.GIJ were kept in box 3, now numbered C303/.

Publication: Same mask in Jones, 1984, p.121, Figure 37, with the caption, Ekpo mask.

Context: “Ekpo masks, like those of northern Ibo, could be divided into ‘beautiful’ and ‘fierce’. The beautiful ones were said to be white, though most of those collected by Murray and myself were black like the fierce ones. But this was due to the conditions under which they had been preserved. Before they were used again, according to our informants, they would have had to be repainted. Most Ibibio masks, until the 1930s, were stained and polished black, in the case of the fierce ones, or coloured white or white and light brown with local pigments. The more modern ones were coloured with imported and mainly oil paints in most of the colours that found favour in other parts of Eastern Nigeria.The finest and oldest of the Anang (Ibibio) masks were used in the Ekpo masquerades, which tried to emphasise their timeless antiquity both in their masks and in their costumes; these remained the traditional ones of raffia fringes, cloaks and skirts which ended at the knees leaving the arms and legs of the actor bare and free for active movement. The Ekpo characters, particularly the fierce ones (and these were in the majority), were intended to inspire respect and admiration but were heavily laden with fear and mystery; to heighten these effects their raffia costumes were dyed black.” (Jones, 1984, pp. 182-183).

Context: Jones devotes a chapter to the Anang (Ibibio) style and shows the diversity in the masks and sculptures. Jones writes that, “The Ibibio style was only one of a number of styles found in the Anang area. I called it Anang (Ibibio), distinguishing where necessary between Traditional Anang (Ibibio), the style of the Ekpo socieity masks, and modern Anang (Ibibio), the style of some of their Ekong masks and other more recent masquerades as well as some of most of the heads, masks and figures which they made for sale outside the area.

There is a wide range of masks and “it was in this style and in this area that Eastern Nigeria face masks attained their greatest development. They were heart-shaped, oval or rectangular in form and they could be carved on circular or on rectangular panels , they could have additional smaller faces carved on the forehead, on a superstructure above it, or on panels hinged to its sides. While normally human in form, they could on occasion be in animal form, or in a combination of human, animal or bird features in order to horify and strike terror into the beholder. But another type of Anang mask achieved this even more successfully by depicting faces ravaged by disfiguring tropical diseases (for instance, rodent ulcers, gangosa, nodular leprosy). These pathological masks were peculiar to the Ibibio, though some were copied by Northern Ibo. Another feature confined to masks in this Anang (Ibibio) style was the representation of the Idiong ring, a circlet of leather fitting tightly around the forehead - the insignia of a member of the prestigious Ididong society ofdoctors and diviners. Another exclusive feature which the ibibio shared with those of the Ogoni was the possession in many cases of a moveable lower jaw. Keloids and other scarifications were not of much use in distinguishing between Ibibio masks. Many carried a rectangular groups of them on each temple, often balanced by one in the center of the forehead, some carried a single vertical scar on the forehead, while some were without any facial markings.” (Jones, 1984, pp. 74-179)

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 14/1/2008]