Description

This four-headed figure presents several formal features that characterize Igbo carvings. It probably depicts a spirit or a supernatural being. Igbo deities are often represented with white faces as a mark of their radical difference from humanity and moral purity. However, very little else is known about the use and function of this particular object, which was acquired by Gore Munbee Barrow, an officer of the British imperial army in Southern Nigeria at the turn of the 20th century.