gelede mask, unrecorded Yoruba artist

Artwork Overview

unrecorded Yoruba artist, gelede mask
unrecorded Yoruba artist
circa 1905
gelede mask, circa 1905
Where object was made: Nigeria
Material/technique: carving; wood; metal
Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 28.5 x 21 x 24 cm height does not include base
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 11 1/4 x 8 1/4 x 9 7/16 in
Credit line: Gift of Larry W. Welling
Accession number: 2007.2893
Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"For Life's Sake: Arts from Africa," Oct-1983, Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen
This fantastic spirit mask combines features of a monkey with the horns of an antelope as well as four nailed-on phallic forms. Together these suggest human desires for power and increase. The masker balanced this image atop his head and a fiber fringe was attached to the holes bored around the lower edge. The translucent appearance of the wood suggests considerable age.

Exhibitions

Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen, curator
1983