Nigeria, Ogoni peoples, ca. early 20th century CE. This is a very nice example of a cane wood Ogoni dance mask, featuring a face with thin slits for eyes, tiny puckered lips, and pronounced ears and nose. The hair is tightly braided and the face is painted to show scarification and tattoos on cheeks, near ears, and forehead. The Ogoni encountered European colonists quite late - 1901 was the year they encountered the British - so their artistic tradition retains many pre-colonial elements com...
