mmwo obegu Wood, pigments height 10in (25.4cm) Provenance Deborah Stokes Hammer Collection, Chicago Bonhams, New York, 5 May 2015, Lot 169 Franklin Family Collection, Portland, Oregon Finely carved in deeply hollowed, rounded form, pierced around the edges for attachment, the face with expressive features with strong nose and full lips, the raised coffee-bean eyes below arched eyebrows, the sides of the face accentuated with raised curvilinear forms flowing upwards; dark brown patina with kaolin highlights on the face with wear revealing a light-brown patina underneath. Cf. Neyt, Francis, The Arts of the Benue to the Roots of Tradition, 1985: p. 150, Illus. no. III.77, and Three Rivers of Nigeria, High Museum, 1978, for two masks most likely carved by the same artist.