IDNO

P.71539.GIJ

Description

Obugulu Mau (Ghost) masquerade.

Ojo (Eju) Onu (Long Mouth) masquerade character wearing a carved and painted wooden head mask, attached to a woven cloth costume which covers the whole of the top half of the wearer. The “animal-like” mask is carved with two horns, eyes, nose, ears, snout with teeth, and a criss-cross pattern in the centre of the forehead. It is painted with dark pigment, on to which pale spots and lines have been added. In the background are grasses, huts and trees.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Ontisha Province; near Awka; Amuda village

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]

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.71504.GIJ to P.71662.GIJ were kept in box 4, now numbered C301/.
P.71531.GIJ to P.71546.GIJ were found wrapped in paper, now numbered C301/2/.

Publication: Same image published on John McCall’s G.I. Jones website with the following information: [Source: www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, AF ]
1. Index to Nsukka and Nri/Awka Igbo
2. Nri-Awka Igbo
3. Eju Onu (Long Mouth) [close-up] Mmau masquerade, Amuda village, Isu Ochi (5th image).

Context: Jones describes the head mask for the character called Ulaga or Oji Onu (Long Mouth) among the Northern Ibo. It belonged to the benign or comic animal category. The frontal part of his head mask projected forward as a muzzle or pair of jaws, the middle section carried a high human forehead and a high-carinated nose, occasionally flanked by bulbous eyes; the rear part was finished off with horns or animal ears or more abstract projections. Whatever its origin, whether in the Lower Niger or Delta area, this type of mask seems to have ranged from the Central Delta to the confluence of the Niger and the Benue River and as far up the latter as the Jukun and Chamba territory (jones, 1984, p.140).

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)
Meek, C. 1931. A Sudanese Kingdom, (London)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 17/10/2007]