‘Olojufoforo’ masks are very rare. This is not only because the Yoruba use helmet and face masks much more, but also because these ‘Olojufoforo’ masks are only present in a small area, in and around the town of Osi, in the northeast of the Yoruba region (Ekiti province). For only in this region does this mask type belong to the highest city god of Osi, ‘Baba Osi’. And only there do such ‘Olojufoforo’ masks dance in his honour in ritual feasts and processions. They are carved with differing, symbolic crests. The present ‘Olojufoforo’ mask supports 7 crest-shaped, black appendage, each with 4 arrowheads, on top of a large, white-coloured mask head. In the white face, the mask displays on the forehead three typical tribal decorative scarification marks painted blue, large red eyes with inset, black pupils and a protruding, small mouth decorated with black serrated relief. Below the large, red eyes are the two almost square holes through which the masked dancer can see. The white face is enframed by four grey, incised zigzag bands, and the entire mask head is bordered once again by a wide, serrated frame. Painted in red, blue, yellow, green and black. And all of this was worked from a single piece of hard, light-coloured wood. A masterpiece. This visibly very old object displays a corresponding usage patina on the outside and on the inner borders at the back. With some age-related damage: breaks on the left half of the face (earlier insect damage?), one broken off white arrowhead above, as well as colour scuffing and small, slight cracks on the back rim. In spite of this, this ‘Olojufoforo’ mask is an unusually old, very rare piece of exceptional quality. H: 64 cm; W: 28 cm. First third of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance: German Private Collection.

Lit.: ‘Lexikon. Afrikanische Kunst und Kultur’ by K.-F. Schädler (German edition): cover photo; ‘Yoruba. Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought’ by Henry John Drewal & John Pemberton III, fig. 218.