Mask "akuma" Jukun, Nigeria wood, dull middle brown patina, residues of kaolin and camwood powder, of rectangular form, curved brows merging into a narrow nose with grooved bridge, flanked by tubular protruding eyes, both face halves hollowed below the brows, merging into a plank-like plane, pierced around the rim, slightly dam., traces of insect caused damage (nose bridge), missing part (below the left eye), cracks (at the lower rim); old and rare piece ! belonging to the "akuma" cult. The mask was used manifold. It was called upon for healing a sick person or for thanking the deity immediately prior to the harvest of corn, it was performed at important funerals, greeted important visitors and helped to celebrate a good fortune. The mask is worn tipped back at an angle of about thirty degrees from the vertical. The Jukun are an ethnical group of around 30.000 people, nowadays living in various enclaves in the area of the Upper Benue River. They first were discovered in the second half of the 19th century, and became an english colony in 1900. Their king "Aka Uku", a demigod, was the first priest as well. He was responsible for rain, fertility of the earth, security and well-being of the community and was the mediator between the clan ancestors and the living people as well. In former times, when ascending the throne, he had to eat his predecessors heart. After a reign of seven years he himself was killed and the cycle started again. H: 49 cm, (4769/016) Provenance:Jacques Kerchache, Paris, France Robert Jacobsen, Copenhagen, Denmark (Artist/Collector) Jan Lundberg, Malmö, Sweden Published in:null Lit.: African Art, A Source of Inspiration for Modern Art, Malmö 1986, p. 109, ill. 119 Roy Sieber, Barry Hecht, Eastern Nigerian Art from the Toby and Barry Hecht Collection, in: African Arts, Spring 2002, p. 56 f. Evers, Christophe, Art of the Upper Benue River, Brüssel 2003, p. 38 f. Dr. Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Lexikon Afrikanische Kunst und Kultur, München/Berlin 1994, p. 206 Kerchache, Jacques/Paudrat, Jean-Louis u.a., Die Kunst des Schwarzen Afrika, Freiburg/Basel/Wien 1988, p. 557