Yoruba Epa Festival Helmet Mask, Based

A woman, an animal, an arch and a crowd, all on one head.

This Epa festival helmet mask is Yoruba, from Nigeria in West Africa, 20th century, in pigment on wood, shown on a base. Epa masks are danced in Yoruba festivals in parts of southwestern Nigeria and are known for their heavy carved superstructures. A broad helmet face with white almond eyes carries a platform of painted triangles. Above it, a central woman stands under a zigzag arch, with a horned animal before her and smaller figures crowding the sides. Seventy-two inches high and 22 in diameter.

Not a hat for a low doorway.