Provenance

Possibly acquired in Nigeria, during the Biafran war, 1967–1970 [see note 1]. Jakaria Sillah, New York, to 1972; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

Note 1:
A catalogue note in the accession file for the object by Yale History of Art Professor Robert Farris Thompson, and the Gallery's African Art Specialist in 1972, indicates that “Gokana territory was looted by the Hausa [peoples] in the Nigeria Civil War...possibly from a destroyed Gokana village.” (January 2, 1973)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Nigerian Civil War, or Biafran War, was a civil war in Nigeria fought between the Nigerian government, and the successionist state of Biafra, 1967–1970. Substantial looting of shrines by combatants took place and many objects were moved across the border into Cameroon, from where they were bought by traders and shipped to the Western art-market as commodities; during and after this period local Igbo traders who supplied regional dealers outside Nigeria were also known to have extracted pieces from their usage contexts in exchange for cash. See Sidney Littlefield Kasfir, African Art and the Colonial Encounter, Indiana University Press, 2007, p. 242, 247

The acquisition of this mask is at present unconfirmed. Research into its ownership history remains ongoing.