Torso (Igbo).
Nigeria.
Wood, height: 66 cm.
Private collection.
Most likely part of an ensemble of life-sized painted wood
figures, this fragment of a masked head on a torso may
have once adorned a men’s meeting-house. The mask
appears to be a calabash, the neck of which slightly projects
over the forehead. The curviliniar patterns on the mask
were guidelines for pigment.
The shrine and meeting-houses represented an
idealised community and once contained numerous
figures. Many shrine meeting-houses existed among the
eastern Igbo communities near the turn of the century.
Since then, most of the sculptures have been dispersed
and the houses dismantled, though some have been
rebuilt in cement and now have modern carvings and
figures lining the walls.