Mask Item Number: 3326/2 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Carved wooden animal (hyena?) mask. There are two large almond-shaped red eyes on the front of the head, with two small holes drilled through the pupils. Two dark blue-black pointed ears extend up at the top of the head. The creature has a long snout, with white teeth lining the slightly open mouth. The mouth is outlined in red and dark blue-black, with the red extending down on to the teeth at the front. A plain wooden collar extends back from the head, and has holes drilled through it. The mask is painted with dots of red, royal blue and white, and black lines horizontally across the snout.

Narrative

Assumed to have been collected by Lieber while he was living in Nigeria (1965-1970), lecturing at the University of Ibadan under the auspices of CIDA.