IDNO

P.71408.GIJ

Description

A mau (ghost) face mask painted white with black. The wooden mask is oval shaped with slit eyed, elongated nose, open mouth with teeth, and ears. The mask is accentuated with black painted triangular shaped designs with incised markings above and below the eyes. In the centre of the forehead is a dotted line crossed in the centre. The holes for attaching the mask are visible.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Onitsha province; Nri Awka; Amobia village

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Nri Akwa

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.71400.GIJ to P.71498.GIJ were kept in box 5, now numbered C302/.
P.71408.GIJ to P.71414.GIJ were found wrapped in paper, now numbered C302/2/.

Context: There was a broad division in many Lower Niger masquerades between ‘beautiful’ and ‘ugly’ characters. The former were thought of as beautiful, serene, and usually female beings, the latter as dangerous, aggressive and masculine. The beautiful were usually white-faced with black hair and gaily decorated headdresses rounded, angular. The number and variety of masks and masquerades [in the Nri/Awka Igbo area of Ontisha province] was considerable: they were referred to generically as Mau (Ghost). A characteristic of the Nri/Akwa style was the use on these white-faced masks of diagonal lines running across the cheeks from below the eyeholes to the corner of the jaw. These were balanced in many cases by similar diagonals on the forehead. (Jones, 1984, p.143)

Context: In reference to this photograph Jones describes the markings as representations of these facial scars can easily be confused with the circles, crosses and other simple figures that were painted on peple and reproduced on their carvings. The most striking of these are the curved triangles stretched diagonally across the cheeks and foreheads of many of the Nri Akwa Ibo white faced masks (Jones, 1989, p.18)

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press); Cole, H. & C. Aniakor, 1984. Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos (Museum of Cultural History, University of California).

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 8/11/2007]