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Headdress

early 1900s
Wood, rawhide, cane, paint, bone or ivory, natural fiber, and metal
Overall: 67.3 x 43.2 x 43.2 cm (26 1/2 x 17 x 17 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1990.23
Location: 108A Sub-Saharan
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

The headdress represents a girl that evokes ideal female beauty and is ready for marriage. The depicted hairstyle was worn during the coming-out ceremony following the girls’ seclusion.

Description

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.
Headdress

Headdress

early 1900s

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Ejagham-style maker

See Also

Videos

Ejagham Culture

How It Was Made

Ceremonial Performance

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