Benue River Vertical Mask, probably Wurkun or Bikwin, Nigeria

Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York, November 9, 1979, lot 76
Sotheby's, New York, November 15, 2002, lot 28
Liz Claiborne and Arthur Ortenberg, New York, acquired at the above auction

Adelberger (in Berns, Fardon and Kasfir 2011: 432) notes: "Tall vertical masks, the most striking of Wurkun sculptures, are surprisingly elusive given their bulk.  While kundul are associated with rituals performed by households and individual priests, the vertical masks, impersonating the ancestral spirits of a co-resident descendant group or a clan, are associated with collective cults.  Like so many artworks from the Benue River Valley, most vertical masks in private and public collections were acquired without detailed provenance during the postcolonial period, many in the years immediately following the Biafran War.  Hence, their attributions have remained mysterious, a problem abetted by the strict secrecy with which they were guarded when in situ. [...]  their remarkable scale makes them among the most impressive sculpture in the Benue River Valley."

Given the paucity of collecting data on these spectacular masks, which have in the past been frequently called Waja, specific cultural attributions are difficult to establish.  Masks of this general type were made among the Wurkun and Bikwin people, as well as similar types among the Jukun and the Mumuye.  For a mask of related form see Berns, Fardon and Kasfir 2011: 416-417, fig. 13.1.