The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Mask
c. 1920s
Overall: 49.5 cm (19 1/2 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1975.160
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
Joints on this mask's jaw allow it to open and close.Description
Ibibio viewers understood that this Ekpo mask with a serene face depicts a beautiful, beneficent soul. This one probably honored a young Ibibio maiden who graduated from the "fattening house," an initiation school where she was fed rich foods to strengthen and beautify her. The bead suspended around the neck of the surmounting head is an insignia of graduation. The double-braided coiffure may have been inspired by Victorian fashions observed by the sculptor in magazines or worn by English missionary women.- at least 1968–1975Katherine C. White1975–The Cleveland Museum of Art by GiftProvenance Footnotes1 This work was included in African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection in 1968. Katherine Coryton White was also known as Katherine White Reswick and Katherine Merkel.
- CMA 1976: "Year in Review 1975," CMA Bulletin LXIII (Feb., 1976), p. 66, no. 31, repr.p. 64.CMA 1968: "African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection," cat. no. 159, repr.CMA 1986: Possessors of Power; African Masks and Sculpture, January 28-March 23, 1986; also at The Beachwood Museum, April 2-30, 1986.
- {{cite web|title=Mask|url=false|author=|year=c. 1920s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.160