Headdress
1900–1925
- Medium
- Wood, rawhide, cane, paint, bone or ivory, natural fiber, and metal
- Dimensions
- Overall: 67.3 x 43.2 x 43.2 cm (26 1/2 x 17 x 17 in.)
- Genre
- Mask
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Ejagham-style maker
About
Headdresses or crest masks made of antelope skin stretched over a carved head are a distinctive art form of the Cross River region in southeastern Nigeria and western Cameroon. This female evocation of ideal feminine beauty was most probably worn by an Ejagham woman in the context of a female society called Ekpa, which was responsible for the education of girls in preparation for marriage.