A superb old dance crest featuring a human-sized head with a - Lot 58

A superb old dance crest featuring a human-sized head with an intense presence and gaze, in a classicist early naturalistic style. The temples are marked by a row of three thick keloids, also present on the forehead between the eyebrows. The whole is covered in antelope leather. Part of her headdress is still made of braided human hair. These crests are often mistakenly attributed to the Ekoi, their real name being Ejagham; Ekoi being the term used by the Efik to designate them. These heads, dance crests, are part of a very ancient sculptural tradition involving male secret societies of social regulation and power, formerly also linked to the slave trade, and encompassing other groups such as the related Anyang, Keaka and Banyangui, but also the Idoma or Igbo and many other groups. This work is very close to another example identified by Jill Salmons, and may come from the Keaka country. Whatever its original attribution, this is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of the genre. Ejagham-Keaka, Nigeria Wood, leather, human hair, metal, pigment, visible old wear and tear, very fine old patina. Height: 37cm Provenance: Hélène Leloup Collection Hélène Leloup Collection, Paris Passed down through generations Exhibition and Publication: Lebas, Arts du Nigeria dans les collections privées françaises, Quebec, Musée de la Civilisation, October 24 2012 - April 21 2013, p.142 and 271, n°75