African Arts Gallery

From a basketry base rises a wooden head covered with leather. The facial features are fine, underlined with scarifications, and teeth are represented by sticks. The headdress, generally made up of scrolled horns, is here made up of horns. The dancer's costume was made up of a large trellis of cords in raffia, and, more recently, in cotton fabric. The masks were coated with palm oil before use, and placed in the light of day so that their leather softened and adopted a satisfactory luster. Leopard societies, such as the male society Kpe, Ngbe among the Aro, used this model of crests for initiation ceremonies or funerals of members of the leopard. association, but also during agricultural rituals. The hairstyle would represent that of the young women named Moninkim at the end of their traditional seclusions during which the Nkim dance was taught to them. Other dance groups, such as Ikem, still wore these masks in the 2000s. (Arts of Nigeria Revisited, N. Barley)