Femenine head - Culture Igbo

This woman, with an elegant and haughty appearence, presents "coffee bean" eyes and a closed mouth, in the corners of which ritual scarifications can be observerd. The headdress, simple but also elegant, is raised at the sides, the hair then being gathered behind. It probably formed a pair with another head of a man, thus demonstrating masculine-femenine duality. It could be hazarded that they formed part of a set of pieces that comprised families and were placed in the mbari sanctuaries, where the ancestors were worshiped. In this way the idea of the family is exalted as the basic unit that contributes to form the community