The small costume mask in the form of a human face is sometimes regarded as ‘Lower Niger’ rather than truly ‘Benin’. It combines a headdress recalling Ife brass castings with scarification redolent of Benin. The use of iron to mark the pupils of the eyes is typically Benin, yet their form is unusual, as are the slits underneath. These are known both from Ife brasswork and Benin ivorywork. The presence of loops at either side instead of at the back suggests that this mask may have been worn around the neck rather than on the left hip, as was more customary in Benin. T. Phillips (ed.), Africa, the art of a continent (London, Royal Academy, 1995) p:399 ~The term ‘Lower Niger Bronze Industry’ was created and first used by William Buller Fagg (1957, 1963, 1970) to identify a miscellaneous group of lost-wax cast objects which were stylistically and/or iconographically distinct from Igbo-Ukwu, Ife and Benin City pieces. The objects are associated with various locations in southern Nigeria, south of the confluence of Benue and Niger Rivers and between the borders with the Republic of Benin and Cameroon. They are thought to have been made prior to European contact, circa pre-1500 A.D. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Lower Niger Bronze Industries’ or ‘Lower Niger Bronzes’. Fagg, William B. (1957) ‘Introduction’. In Plass, Margaret. Lost wax; metal casting on the Guinea Coast. London: London Institute of Contemporary Arts. Fagg, William. (1963). Nigerian images: The splendor of African sculpture. New York ; London: Praeger. Fagg, William. (1970) Divine Kingship in Africa. London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by British Museum Publications. ~Register 1962: Brass mask, pierced at mouth, nostrils are below the protruding eyeballs. S.NIGERIA- a mask of unusual style and uncertain origin, perhaps from the Lower Niger region.
Exhibitions Loans and Displays - Current and Pastexhibition history Exhibited: 1995/6 Oct-Jan, Royal Academy of Arts, Africa: The Art of a Continent 1996 Mar-May, Berlin, Martin Gropius Bau, Africa: The Art of a Continent 1996 May-Sep, New York, Guggenheim Museum, Africa: The Art of a Continent