Reference Prof. Herbert Cole: IGBO Elephant spirit mask; 38 cm high; 50 cm wide. Called Ogbodo Enyi, these masks from northeastern Igboland (Izzi, Ikwo, Ezza) come in several sizes according to the age of the masker/dancer. A young man would have danced with this figure during a village ritual of purification. Sacrifices would have been made to the drums which were considered the spiritual leaders of this cult, in succession, each masked male visited the major segments of a village group, starting with the youngest, ending with the eldest, who wore the largest masks. Like others of its type, this mask is pigmented with white riverine clay, black prepared from charcoal, and orange-red camwood.
Young women often applied orange-red camwood as part of coming-of-age rites. Men also used the color as a cosmetic to decorate their bodies for title-taking rites. The “elephant” of this mask is deliberately distorted, with the trunk (which is of course the elephant’s nose) erupting from the forehead; the tusks are correctly placed beside the mouth as if coming out of it. A humanoid nose, in addition to the trunk-nose, indicates that this is a composite human/animal mask, and the deliberate lack of naturalism indicates that this is a spirit that is neither elephant nor human, but with aspects of both.

Provenance:
Ex collection Serge Trullu, Nimes;
Austrian private collection. (VJ)