Carved wooden head mask representing bush cow horns. The mask is carved from one piece of wood and painted red all over. A row of holes all around the base with remnants of plant fibre in one of the holes. The wood is split in places. [ZM 13/05/2013] [ZM 13/05/2013]

Collection type: Object
Description: Carved wooden head mask representing bush cow horns. The mask is carved from one piece of wood and painted red all over. A row of holes all around the base with remnants of plant fibre in one of the holes. The wood is split in places. [ZM 13/05/2013] [ZM 13/05/2013]
Geographical reference: Nigeria
Africa > Western Africa > Nigeria
Cultural groups: Kantana; Mama
Person: Field collector Hubert Frank Mathews; PRM source Hubert Frank Mathews
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1918
Date collected: By 1918
Acquisition information: Donated: 1918
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Material Plant Fibre, Process Carved, Process Painted, Process Perforated
Dimensions: Width: max 257 mm, Length: max 377 mm, Height: max 98 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1918.31.26
Research and responses: Marla Berns, from the Fowler Museum at UCLA, and Richard Fardon, from the University of London, examined this head piece on 20/6/2007. They identified it as being from the Kantana (Mama) group. [AR 2/7/2007]
Associated publications: Listed as number 116 on page 14 of Art from the Guinea Coast (Pitt Rivers Museum, Illustrated Catalogue No. 1), Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum (1965): 'NIGERIA Northern Region ... 116. Bushcow mask for use in the mangam play. Mama tribe (1918.31.26.) (38 cm.)'. Also illustrated in black and white in unnumbered plate XXXIV. (For details of exhibition, see under 'Display History'.) [JC 12 9 2013]

Search terms: Clothing Headgear, Dance, Status, Religion, Figure, Mask, Headdress, Dance Accessory, Status Object, Religious Object, Animal Figure

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