Ẹpa helmet mask,

before 1920

This monumental helmet mask is attributed to Bamgboṣẹ, who resided in Osí-Ìlọrin, an emirate of the Islamic Sokoto Caliphate until 1903, when it was conquered by British colonial forces. Epa masks memorialize celebrated family members and honor those ancestors’ values. Carved from a single block of wood, the unwieldy mask was performed during public festivals, where the dancer, balancing the Janus-faced helmet atop his head and shoulders, leapt onto a mound during the dance in a feat of great strength. The mask’s elaborate multilevel superstructure of courtly attendants—messengers, soldiers, a drummer, praise singers, and figures associated with òrìṣàs (Yorùbá deities)—surrounds a ruler or warrior mounted on horseback. Yorùbá artists frequently represented horses to emphasize military prowess during the Kírìjí War, the series of conflicts between Yorùbá kingdoms in the late nineteenth century.