IDNO

P.71932.GIJ

Description

A side view of a masquerader wearing a skin covered mask. The mask personofies a male and it is very naturalistic looking and depicts a high rounded forehead, long nose, open mouth, rounded ears and on the cheeks are three diagonal scars and a circular marking near the ear. The mask has hair and fibre attached to the head and to the chin to resemble a beard. Around the base of the mask is twine and calico printed cloth from India around the torso.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Cross River

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Abiriba

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.71832.GIJ to P.71970.GIJ were kept in box 7, now numbered C298/

Publication: Same image in Jones, 1989, p.51, Figure 41 with the caption, “Ajonku masquerade. Abiriba town, Cross River Ibo. Skin covered head called Ajonku. Note the ancient Indian cotton print displayed with it.”

Publication: Same image in Jones, 1984, p. 35, Figure 2 with the caption, Ajonku.

Context: In reference to the Cross River area (and to this particular mask), Jones writes that, “On the Cross River some of the heads representing mainly male characters carried diagonal cheek scars, usually two or three close together running from below the eye to the corner of the show. These were shown both on the skin-covered heads and on some of the Ohuhu/Ngwa Ekpe (Ibo) heads (Jones, 1984, p.34).

Context: In reference to the Abam/Ohaffia area, Jones writes that, “Many of their towns and villages had Ekpe (Egbo) masquerades and skin-covered heads in the Cross-River Style, usually called Ajonku. But they also had masquerades of their own with masks carved in local variations of the Lower Niger style. Some of these, although carved for use as a face mask, were actually worn on the actor’s head, for example in the Ngbangba Ikoro masquerade of the Abiriba. All these tribes, but particularly the Abiriba, were great doctors and traders and travelled extensively in the Cross River area and through the Ibibio country to the coastal trading states. Anang (Ibibio) sculpture was greatly admired, but it does not seem to have had much influence on the local styles” (Jones, 1984, p.208)

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I., 1984. The Art of Eastern Nigeria (Cambridge University Press)
Jones, G.I. 1989. Ibo Art (Shire).

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 5/12/2007]