Currently at the MET as part of the “African Art, New York and the Avant-Garde”
Maiden Mask - Southeastern Nigeria (Igbo)
ca. 1800′s - early 1900′s
This mask, carved of wood and colored with pigment, represents an adolescent female with Igbo ideals of beauty. Elaborate hairstyles and elongated slender facial features are only two of these ideals. Maiden masks would have traditionally been worn by men dressed in vibrantly colored outfits during festivals honoring patron deities.