YORUBA, Nigeria. - Lot 312

YORUBA, Nigeria. Important and very old Epa mask, featuring an anthropomorphic helmet with wide-open eyes on the lower part. The whole is surmounted by an equestrian figure personifying a chief riding his mount with dexterity, in a deliberate disproportion between man and animal. The headdress at the back is reminiscent of those associated with the god Eshu, suggesting a link with this divinity, or even its representation on the animal. Wood, remains of indigo, red ochre and white pigments, old patina, marks of use, erosion and traces of time, missing parts and small indigenous restoration. Height Height : 96 cm Width : 33 cm Provenance : Ex Marceau Rivière, Paris. Publication: Francine Ndiaye, Esprits d'Afrique, 1966, fig. 54, p. 62. Exhibition: Center Cultural de Caixa de Girona, Fontona d'Os, December 20, 1996 - February 8, 1997. This Epa mask was used in Yoruba ceremonies celebrating fertility, prosperity and the memory of founding heroes. Worn on the head by robust dancers because of its imposing weight, it combined an anthropomorphic helmet with a monumental summit figure. The equestrian scene expresses the authority and prestige of the chief, the deliberate disproportion between rider and mount conveying the spiritual and social primacy of man over animal. The drooping headdress recalls the iconography of Eshu, the ambivalent divinity of luck, passage and communication, whose evocation here accentuates the power and presence of the whole.