Agbogho Mmwo Helmet Mask

The superstructure of this helmet mask incorporates multiple hornbill images, with each bird bearing a different and striking pattern of white, blue and black. As with many Mmwo masks, renderings of four hair combs are placed in pairs on each side of the head. According to the Saint Louis Art Museum, Agbogho Mmwo masks “are worn by men to represent the Igbo ideal of female beauty: small, balanced features, elaborate hairstyles, and delicate tattoos” during “festivals that celebrate the incarnate dead, those collective ancestors who assure prosperity and protection for the living community. This function explains the white painted surface of the mask…During the ceremony, the ancestors re-appear as beautiful maidens from the spirit world, wearing colorful, tight-fitting fiber costumes, and entertaining the crowd with exaggerated versions of women’s dances.” This mask is from a cache of African wood carvings found in the rear of a Manhattan warehouse locker, where all the objects were wrapped in newspaper dated June 16, 1974. Other items in these boxes were similarly from southern Nigeria, areas caught up in the Biafran Civil War, 1967-1970. Ex Sidney and Gae Berman. 

29″

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