The Eket people are a small ethnic group in south-eastern Nigeria, neighbours of the Ibibio and Ogoni. Characteristic for the style of the masks and figures of the Eket are their heart-shaped faces cupping towards the middle.
The present figure, carved from hard, light-coloured wood and painted black, red and white on the outside, belongs to a ritual cult complex for the worship of ancestors and for the welfare of the family.
These figure types are placed in special shrines. It shows a round half figure with a large head in typical Eket form, on an offset, round plinth. In the region of the shoulders there are four round projections, arranged opposite to each other. The entire torso and the plinth are painted black. On the head, the wide protruding eyebrow arches and the deep-set rhomboid eyes are accentuated with white, while the wide, narrow mouth is painted red. The exterior discs of the four round projections on the body are alternately coloured red and white. The encircling, straight bands on the plinth above, as well as the band of points on the plinth below, were also originally painted white and red (with colour abrasion due to age). The entire object shows an impressive patina on all edges, with partial, old flaking of colour. A crack to head, one to the body and one to the back of the plinth. Otherwise, no damage.
An old collection label with the number ‘513’ is glued onto the short, hollowed part of the figure below, on the inside. A very rare type of shrine figure of the Eket.
Height: 48 cm; diameter: 14 cm (below). First third of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance: German private collection.