Crest Helmet

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Crest Helmet

Artist Ejagham people, Ekoi subgroup

Place of OriginNigeria / Cameroon

Dateearly 20th century

Dimensions19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm)

Mediumwood, antelope (duiker) skin, palm fiber, bamboo, metal studs, kaolin, and pigment

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Dorothy Mackenzie Price

Object number

2005.321

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 01

Collections

Sculpture

Published ReferencesArt Africain, Océanien et Précolumbien, Christie's, Paris,6 December 2005, lot 201.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 53, 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. 157, p. 212, repr. (col.).

Exhibition HistoryToledo, Toledo Museum of Art, In Motion: Dance and Performance in Art, September 18, 2015- January 3, 2016.Comparative ReferencesSee also Ekpo Eyo, "Headdresses." In For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. Ed. Susan Vogel. Exhib. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1981, 167, cat. 98.

See also Nicklin, Keith, "Headdresses." In For Spirits and Kings: African Art from the Paul and Ruth Tishman Collection. Ed. Susan Vogel. Exhib. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1981, 168, cat. 99.

See also Selected Works from the Collection of The National Museum of African Art, vol. 1 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art, 1999, 89, no. 60 (Ejagham crocodile mask with spiral horns).

See also Sieber, Roy and Frank Herreman. Exhib. cat., Hair in African Art and Culture, The Museum for African Art, New York. New York, London, and Munich: Prestel, 2000, 48, cat. 46 (Ejagham crest mask in the form of a woman's head with coiffure with curving "horns" of hair, Collection of Toby and Barry Hecht).

See also Petridis, Constantine, South of the Sahara: Selected Works of African Art. Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003, 88-89, no. 29 (Ejagham crest mask in the form of a woman's head with coiffure with curving "horns" of hair, 1990.23).

Label TextEjagham skin-covered headdresses are portraits of ancestors. Famous men were almost all heroic warriors, so they are shown with aggressively bared teeth. The dark face represents a man; the yellow-brown face a woman. The spiral horns exaggerate a women’s hairstyle. The dark marks at the temples represent tattoos cut into the skin: the circles on the female head stand for love; the rectangles on the male head signify high rank. Crest helmets are danced at serious occasions and at funerals by men, who are completely covered by a long gown from the top of the head to the ankles.