Headdress

Cleveland Museum of Art

Headdress

Date
early 1900s
Medium
Wood, human hair, paint, and possibly kaolin
Culture
Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Idoma-style carver
Department
African Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
141206

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This was used in masked performances of the Agrinya society, a powerful guild formerly restricted to men who had killed an elephant, lion, or man. The white pigment connotes the realm of the ancestors, while the aggressive expression of the face seems to suggest the courage of Agrinya society members. Holes in the neck once attached a flat raffia disk or strings for wearing the headdress-type mask on top of the head.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund
Provenance
?–1964: M. Sainsbury, Bath | 1964–: The Cleveland Museum of Art by purchase

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