Head 17 16.5" high $500 |
Head 18 8" high $500 |
Head 19 22.5" high $1200 |
Head 17 16.5" high $500 |
Head 18 8" high $500 |
Head 19 22.5" high $1200 |
The Yoruba heads above have been vetted as authentic with signs of use and age.
Most of these heads have the form of Egungun headdresses.
The word Egungun refers to masking associated with honored male
lineage ancestors. While each mask has a personal name, it does not usually
refer to a specific ancestor. Rather, Egungun masks embody the "collective
force of the ancestors. All of the Egungun in a community appear
annually during a joyful festival that celebrates the distinguished dead.
During the festival, the ancestors bless the living, promote physical and
spiritual health, settle disputes, enforce tradition and morality, and cleanse
the community of witchcraft.
--from African Shapes of the Sacred: Yoruba Religious Art by Carol
Ann Lorenz, Senior Curator, Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University.
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