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Carved Wooden Face Mask with Protruding Eyes

Image Masks
A photograph of a carved wooden Igbo mask with protruding eyes and a hair beard.
Carved wooden face mask with protruding eyes and natural hair beard. From the G.I. Jones Collection.

A photograph depicting a carved wooden face mask characterized by protruding eyes and mouth, with natural hair attached as a beard. The head and crested headdress are painted black, while the primary facial substrate is an off-white to cream tone. This documentation photograph records an object currently held in the British Museum collection under reference Af1954,23.512, featuring a height of 45.80 centimetres, a width of 25.30 centimetres, and a depth of 25.30 centimetres.

Community Notes

Onyeka Nwokike

Oct 19, 2026

This photograph is cataloged as P.170287.GIJ at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), University of Cambridge. It was originally stored in paper folder C759/6, part of a larger assemblage of loose photographs and documents designated as C759/. The mask's British Museum reference indicates it was part of a 1954 acquisition of Igbo ethnographic materials, including other objects such as the complex sculpture Af1954,23.522.

Onyeka Nwokike

Oct 19, 2026

The image is part of a photographic archive of southeastern Nigerian art and culture comprising approximately 350 images of Igbo masks, carvings, and pots. Compiled by G.I. Jones in the 1930s, this collection records ethnographic materials both as isolated objects and as elements of active dances, festivals, and initiation rites.

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