Old African Mask Igbo maiden-spirit mask and NFT

***This NFT is inspired by the actual physical piece African Mask Igbo maiden-spirit mask is in the possession of current NFT artist.

Dimensions: 18"H x 12 1/2"W x 18 1/2"D Early-Mid 20th C. Age cracks & old tribal repair wood - fabric Nigeria Encrusted Patina

https://www.linkedin.com/in/africanartnfts/

*Any question please contact me before purchase to coordinate the shipping at https://twitter.com/AfurakanGallery

African Art NFTs is located in the U.S. pieces can be ship anywhere in the U.S. if you are out of the U.S. please contact me first to make sure shipping cost and requirements of the postal services.

Maiden masks are used mostly during festivals and the second funerals of prominent society members. On latter occasions maiden spirits are invoked alongside other spirits as appropriate escorts of the highly respected dead into the spirit world. During agricultural or other ceremonies, however, maiden spirits appear to aid in watching over the living and to promote abundant harvests, fertility, and general prosperity. Maiden spirits are light-hearted in contrast to more menacing spirits of the Igbo world, which often generate a more serious atmosphere. Maiden maskers perform almost theatrically, as if in a play, their purpose to entertain both human and spirit audiences.

Every Igbo town differs in terms of its range of festivals and types of masks, and oftentimes the spiritual and stylistic forms intermingle between regions, making it difficult to trace this mask to one particular location. However, masking traditions throughout the various Igbo regions share underlying themes and similar spirits, and so the purpose of this maiden mask can be at least somewhat clarified. Of the two most important mask types among the Igbo-- those idealizing the qualities of young women, and those representing the powers of men, the maiden mask embodies the former. When the mask is worn, always by a man, the maiden spirit a dancer personifies represents the ideals of youthful feminine grace and beauty, albeit exaggerated both in the masks and the performance of them.

SOURCE: Aniakor, Chike C. and Herbert M. Cole. Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos. Museum of Cultural History, University of California: Los Angeles, 1984.