ANYANG (Ekoi)

HEADDRESS

Anthropomorphic head with a direct, self-assured presence. Life-like proportions, an open mouth with exposed teeth, and strongly modeled ears give the face a pronounced physicality. The surface is covered with animal skin stretched over a carved wooden core; the elongated neck transitions into a woven basketry cap. Dark circular markings appear on the temples. The surface shows an old, clearly worked patina with visible signs of use.

This head belongs to the rare tradition of skin-covered ritual headgear from the Cross River region, most closely associated with the Ekoi and related groups. Such works were worn in ceremonial contexts, often linked to ancestor veneration and masked performances.

A red-painted, presumably American museum accession number “48.47:1” on the neck—applied directly onto the skin—provides rare and concrete evidence of an early institutional collection history and points to a registration in 1948.

Ekoi (Anyang), Nigeria, Cross River Region
19th/20th century
30 cm, wood, skin, basketry
Museum, USA (acc. no. 48.47:1) / Boris Kegel-Konietzko, Hamburg / Dieter Blume, Braunschweig / Private collection, Munich / Kegel-Konietzko & Dorn

PUBLISHED
Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, Afrikanische Kunst in deutschen Privat-Sammlungen / African Art in Private German Collections, Munich 1973, p. 233, no. 328 | Karl-Ferdinand Schädler, EKOI, Munich 1984, p. 17 #2 | AHDRC

MARKET DEBUT: 2026
PRICE ON REQUEST