This is the rating and price for Yoruba Epa Helmet Mask, 1978

Description : A SUPERB YORUBA EPA HELMET MASK BY BAMGBOYE OF ODO OWO (CA. 1895 - 1978) PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MARIDA HINES BRINKWORTH measurements note height 41 3/4 in. 106cm the janiform helmet pierced at the mouth with large hemispherical eyes and square ears to either side supporting an elaborate superstructure of the warrior-king astride a horse, holding a spear in his right hand and scepter with a bound captive in the left, and wearing a tall, crested hat with a pendant flange at the reverse touching the high-backed saddle and surrounded at the base by four diminutive musicians, each figure with stern features including tightly closed mouths, broad aquiline noses and large, prominently outlined almond-shaped eyes, the whole elaborately decorated with red, white, black and blue pigment. PROVENANCE Collected circa 1956 by Ian Brinkworth, MBE, District Officer, Nigeria (1946-1957) directly from the artist, Bamgboye at his atelier in Odo Owo By descent to the present owner NOTE William Ian Brinkworth (1914-2000) was born in India to British parents. After his schooling, Brinkworth trained to be a painter at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. With the advent of World War II, Brinkworth joined the military, earning several medals and an MBE (Member of the British Empire). After the war, Brinkworth joined the British Colonial Administrative Service in Nigeria, and over the next 11 years was promoted to District Office and finally to Senior District Officer. During his tenure, Brinkworth took great interest in the local cultures and travelled extensively. He used a specially adapted camping van which allowed him to photograph and document his experiences. Brinkworth developed a good rapport with many local chiefs and collected works of art. In 1956, his penultimate year in Nigeria, Brinkworth acquired what he rightly considered to be 'the jewel' of his collection --the offered mask. He purchased the piece directly from the master-carver, Bamgboye, and he documented his encounter with the artist at his workshop in Odo Owo, in the Ekiti region. Upon his return to England, Brinkworth pursued media and lecturing interests before turning to writing. Under the nom de plume Ian Brook, Brinkworth wrote five novels, two critically-acclaimed of which, Jimmy Riddle (1961) and his autobiography, The One-Eyed Man is King (1966), are based in Africa. Brinkworth also wrote numerous essays about African Art, published by The Geographical Magazine and West African Review, amongst others, under the name Ian Brinkworth. The Brinkworth mask is closely related to another well-known Epa mask by Bamgboye now in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. See Kan (1995: 78, number 27) for the Detroit Epa and discussion. The Detroit mask is thought to date from the 1930's. Similarly, Brinkworth recorded that Bamgboye, at the time in his 60's, recounted that he had created the mask as a young man. Based on this account, the Brinkworth mask was most likely carved in the 1930's. The Brinkworth and the Detroit masks demonstrate the best of Bamgboye's talents in creating a complex composition with a sense of controlled tension. This celebrated carver had orikis, or praise poems, composed to honor his virtuosity as one whose work 'reveals a discipline of mind and hand, ifarabale' (Pemberton 1994: 133). John Pemberton documented an oriki composed for Bamboye, which concludes: The elephant has fled in the face of the hunter. The mighty one has fallen in the forest and can no longer rise. The elephant has fallen, the elephant is gone. The elephant has fallen, the elephant is gone. Ajanaku the mighty one has fallen and can no longer rise. Ajanaku has fallen and cannot climb the mountain. Our father has indeed departed. Well done, son of Olora, who walks majestically. 'Artistry and virtuosity is what is expected of the dancers in an ancestral masquerade when challenged by the lead drummer, the oriki empowers the dancer to be, and the lineage members to perceive, the ancestral presence' (ibid. : 134). Bamgboye himself clearly held the Brinkworth mask in high regard, perhaps as a measure of his artistic insight, oju-inu, having kept it for so many years after its creation.
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