Epa Helmet Mask: Mother of Twins

ArtistAttributed to Bamgbose African, d. 1920

Artistor Areogun African | Nigerian, ca. 1880 - 1954

Artist Yoruba people , Ekiti subgroup

Datemid-19th to early 20th century

DimensionsH: 49 1/2 in. (125.7 cm); weight: 24 lbs. (10.9 kg)

Mediumwood with polychrome paint

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1977.22

Not on View

Collections

Sculpture

Published References"For the Record," The Art Gallery, vol. 20, no. 5, June/July 1977, p. 79.

"New Acquisitions," African Arts, vol. 11, no. 1, Oct. 1977, repr. p. 70.

"Acquisitions," Art Journal, vol. 37, no. 1, Fall 1977, p. 74.

"La chronique des arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 91, no. 1310, March 1978, repr. p. 61.

"1978 Annual Report," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 21, no. 1, 1979, p. 9, repr. p. 17.

Armstrong, Robert Plant, The Powers of Presence, Philadelphia, 1981, p. 66, 84, repr. pl. 58.

Drewel, Henry John, and John Pemberton, Yourba, nine centuries of African Art and Thought, New York, 1989, p. 202, fig. 226, p. 195; incorrectly attributed to Bamgbose of Osi Ilorin.

Wankelman, Willard F., and Philip Wigg, A Handbook of Arts and Crafts, 8th ed., Madison, 1993, repr. p. 189.

Wigg, Philip, et. al., A Handbook of Arts and Crafts, 9th ed., Madison, 1997, repr. p. 308.

LaGamma, Alisa, "Beyond Master Hands: the Lives of the Artists," African Arts, vol. 31, no. 4, Autumn, 1998, p. 28, 32, fig. 8 (col.) p. 30.

Roberts, Mary Nooter, Facing Africa: The African Art Collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1998, front and back covers, pp. 8-9, repr. (col.).

Visona, Monica Blackman et al., A history of art in Africa, New York, Abrams, 2001, p. 259, fig. 8-47; Second edition, Upper Saddle River, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008, p. 356, fig. 8-43.

Wigg, Philip R., A Handbook of Arts and Crafts, 10th ed., Boston, McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Herberholz, Donald and Barbara, Artworks for Elementary Teachers: Developing Artistic and Perceptual Awareness, 9th ed., Boston, McGraw-Hill, 2002, fig. 740, p. 186.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 52, repr. (col.).

Eyo, Ekpo, From Shrines to Showcases: Masterpieces of Nigerian Art, Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, 2009, no. 118, p. 172-173, repr. (col.) (front and back views).

Lawal, Babtunde, Yoruba, Milan, Italy, 5 Continents, 2012, p. 121, 136, pl. 55 (col.).

Cole, Herbert M., Maternity: Mothers and Children in the Arts of Africa, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2017, repr. (col.) fig. 287, p. 309.

Petridis, Constantine, The Language of Beauty in African Art,New Haven, Yale University Press, March 2022, repr. (col.) fig. 5, p. 159.

Green, James, Bamigboye: a Master Sculptor of the Yoruba Tradition, Yale University Art Gallery, 2022, p. 96-98, repr. (col.) fig. 64, p. 97.

Exhibition HistoryBirmingham, Donald Morris Gallery, African Art, 1976-1977, no. 1.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Master Hand: Individuality and Creativity among Yoruba Sculptors, 1997-1998.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Carroll, Kevin, Yoruba Religious Carving, New York, 1967, chapter XI, pp. 79-86.

See also Willett, Frank, African Art, New York, 1971, pp. 228-229.

See also Monti, Franco, African Masks, New York, 1969, p. 82, pl. 37.

See also Robbins, Warren M., African Art in American Collections, New York, 1966, p. 133, fig. 163, p. 134, fig. 164.

See also Thompson, Robert Farris, African Art in Motion, Berkeley, 1963, pp. 79, 103, 194, 196, pls. 106, 140, 141, 229, 230, 235, 236.

See also Trowell, Margaret, Classical African Sculpture, London, 1954, pl. XIX.

See also Underwood, Leon, Masks of West Africa, London, 1952, fig.s 26, 27.

Label TextThis monumental mask supports six small figures arranged around a mother of twins (iyabeji), reflecting the Yoruba saying, “It is she who holds within her womb the future promise of community.” Twins (ibeji) are highly symbolic to the Yoruba people, who have the highest twinning rate in the world. The sculpture celebrates both the ase (life-force) and ewa (beauty) that the gods have bestowed upon the woman depicted. In the Ekiti region of northeast Nigeria, the annual festival of the Epa Society, at which such a mask would have been worn, commemorates the many roles a community’s ancestors served to make a stable and thriving town.