Dogon - African mask from the IGALA - Nigeria - Sold

African mask from the IGALA, Nigeria

Hand carved from a single piece of colorful painted wood.

Height: 28 cm.

Taxatiewaarde: 150 - 175 euro

The professional standard is not included in the auction. You can order it there for 29.85 euros.

The Igala are an ethnic group of Nigeria. Their homeland, the former Igala Kingdom, is an approximately triangular area of about 14,000 km2 in the angle formed by the Benue and Niger rivers. The area was formerly the Igala Division of Kabba province, and is now part of Kogi State. The capital is Idah in Kogi state.

The Igala mega state attained the height of its fame during the mid-17th century. The Idah-Benin war (1515-1516) was a war of mutual independence. The Igala state reached its political and commercial supremacy afterwards, when it became a leading exporter of choral beads, horses, medicine, skills and of course, slaves to the coastal region. Its growing economic power, nevertheless, changed the dynamics of the earlier complex relationships with several Idoma communities. The Igala people are found in villages and towns across the Nigerian state of Kogi. In each town or village where they are more than a thousand of Igala people, a chief (Oga Attah) which is a representative of the Attah Igala is crowned.