Dance crest, Ukelle or Ogoja; Nigeria/Cameroon;
H. 10 1/2"
Wood, basketry, animal skin, pigment
In the hinterland between Nigeria
and Cameroon, skin-covered dance crests, rendered
in an extremely naturalistic style, are produced.
The two examples here presented are of exceptional
quality. The first, a masterpiece both large and
remarkable, is associated with the "fatting
house" in which young women, upon reaching
marriageable age, are sequestered and fattened to
increase their desirability. This crest is attributed
to the master Askipo.
Bill Fagg has written about this crest:
"Asikpo, who died in about 1925, was the finest
carver among the Efut (an Ibibio subgroup, next
to the Efik) about the turn of the century. There
are at least two of his works, very similar to this,
in the Museum of Mankind, and a third (acquired
by exchange from the Museum of Mankind) in the Musee
de l'Homme, Paris. His most ambitious work, probably,
is in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (published
by J. Fry (ed.) Twenty-five African Sculptures,
Ottawa, 1978, pp. 66-71, where there is a valuable
account of Asikpo and the Ikem cult by Keith Nicklin).
(For the Ikem masquerade, by Asikpo Edet Okon of
Ibonda, near Creek Town, Calabar.) (Bill Fagg, personal
communication, 1985)
Nicklin further added that the hairstyle
represents that of women "coming out"
of the "fatting room" (Nicklin, personal
communication, 1989). The second example, smaller
and more aggressive yet of excellent age and quality,
is described by Nicklin as a "skin-covered
cap mask deriving from the Middle Cross River area,
probably Ogoja. [It] could be Ukelle, a group at
the northwestern limit of skinhead distribution.
Probably one of a pair or ensemble used in funeral
masquerade" (Ibid). Quite often, cap masks
of this type have designs drawn on their cheeks.
These are ritual symbols known as Insibede
that may be understood by other members of the secret
society utilizing these objects.
