- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Forehead mask representing a woman wearing a head-scarf encircled by bananas. [ZM 30/08/2013]
- Long description
- Wooden mask with carved openings at the centre of the eyes and nostrils. Two holes carved at the top and bottom of each ear and a row of holes around the inside of the base, only some opening right through to the outside of the mask. Female human features with a hairstyle with a painted pattern head band or scarf surrounded with two bands of carved bananas. Splits in the wood in places. [ZM 13/05/2013]
- Geographical reference
- southwestern Nigeria Lagos State Lagos
- Cultural groups
- Yoruba
- Date / Period
- Date made: Probably by 1895
- Date collected
- By 1895 probably
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1913
- Materials and processes
- Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Material Chalk Stone, Process Carved, Process Painted, Process Perforated, Process Burnt
- Dimensions
- Height: max 220 mm, Width: max 208 mm, Diameter: max 252 mm base, Length: max 340 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1913.48.13
- Research and responses
John Picton examined this mask during a consultation visit about the Yoruba masks on 20 August 2013 and noted the following: This is a gelede type mask representing a woman, possibly a banana seller, wearing a printed patterned European textile head-scarf. This is unusual with the bananas around the head and could be intended as a joke about a popular banana seller. Painted with powdered chalk. The holes around the base, although they do not continue all the way around, are evidence of how the masquerade costume could be fitted to the mask. This type of mask is worn at the forehead, like a cap or hat. [ZM 27/08/2013]
Sir John Smalman Smith worked for the Nigerian courts in Lagos between 1883 to 1895 and probably collected this mask during this period. [ZM 17/03/2014]
Search terms: Mask, Dance, Dance Accessory