Browse Items (43 total)

Carved wood with dark brown vegetable pigment patina with white kaolin in the form of a rounded monkey’s face with minimal features and concave white face, round protruding eyes, elongated nose, diminutive mouth with 4 lines of scarification…

This totem has a male figure standing on the right, and a female figure on the left, with upturned open palms. They are standing on top of a block-like post with carved relief ancestral faces. The totem reminds a couple that cultural and tribal…

This unusual mask of a man’s face is made of carved wood with dark brown vegetable pigment and white koalin. His hair is done as a three-part coiffure. The mask is worn by a person acting as the tribe’s police or to frighten an enemy.

This male figure with a rounded belly has rings around his neck, arms, waist and ankles and has an open hole in his back for inserting one-of-a-kind object is hand-made terra cotta with a dark brown vegetable patina and red camwood powder accents.

Goli masquerades are rich with social commentary pertaining to knowledge, gender, aesthetics, and the hierarchies surrounding village life. Communication comes forth through the medium of entertainment with elaborate costuming. Performance takes…

This elephant mask has oval ears and small tusks. It is one of a kind, made of bronze with a rich varied brown patina. When a masker puts on an animal mask, he absorbs something of the animal's power.

A "Gelede" mask honors the power of the female forces in the cosmos, especially elderly women. The mask is worn during dancing, singing and drumming. The festival atmosphere encourages women to use their power to promote the well-being of their…

This male figure is posed like a wrestler, with rings around his neck, wrist, waist and ankles. There is an opening at the base of the neck between the shoulder blades for inserting herbal medicines. This hand-made terra cotta has a dark brown…

This human face, probably a female, has accents on the eyelid area, ears and lips using dark brown-black vegetable pigment. On top of the mask is an unusual pair of breast-like forms. The mask is made of carved wood with fine aged encrusted dark…

This mask is used to denote the rank of the owner in Bwani society. The Lega (Warega) people live in a community that governs itself and has various levels of ranking. The mask is made of carved wood with a variegated brown patina and white kaolin.