Mask Item Number: 3600/2 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Carved wooden mask depicting a humanoid face, wearing an elaborate coiffure. Face has a short thin nose over small puckered mouth; eyes are partially closed and rest underneath raised semi-circular eyebrows. Small ears extend from either side of head; chin circled with protruding triangles, with cutouts in centres. Rectangle, with ridges across front, extends from bottom centre of chin. Small patches of raised cross-hatching on cheeks and next to ears; raised circles carved underneath eyes. Coiffure has a tall arch in the middle, with horn-like protrusions that wrap around base of arch before pointing downward, on either side of head; pin-like carving pierces front of coiffure. Entire coiffure is decorated with incised lines. Sides of mask have braided plant fibre threaded through them; interior is hollowed. (Plastic tie threaded across back centre of mask, for hanging purposes.)
Purchased by Peter Oberlander on his frequent trips to Africa, sometime between 1958-1990. Oberlander was teaching and consulting in Ghana, and consulting for the UN in Nigeria and Kenya.