Nri-Awka Igbo white-face female mask with itchi scarring 1937
Donated by Gwilym Iwan Jones in 1938
The facial markings represented in this mask are described by Jones as Itchi marks of the Ibo people, indicative of membership of the Ozo title society, which extended over most of the Northern Ibo and to the Isuama group of Southern Ibo. These marks consisted of diagonal gashes across the entire forehead and upper eyelids. They seem to have a very ancient ancestry for very similar marks were depicted on the heads of figures of the Igbo Uku treasure dating 800AD.
Among the Northern and Isu Ibo the Ozo, another graded wealth society, was the power behind the village council but it had no association with any supernatural beings. Masquerading was the concern of younger men organised in each ward into societies specifically concerned with the maintenance of one or two masked characters .
These white-faced masks are generally worn by middle-aged men (in their thirties and forties) performing the Agbogho mmanwu, which means maiden masquerade. In this masquerade the masks often appear in a series of staggered performances, for example two masqueraders may appear together one representing the mother and the other the daughter, which will be followed by another two masked performers...This particular mask has the marks of the itchi scarring, which was linked with the Ozo title society whose membership included males and females.
Source:
Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford 1938
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