<div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">The Idoma are the eastern neighbours of the Igala on the south bank of the lower Benue, and like them speak a language which is allied to Yoruba, having diverged from it probablythousands of years ago. They were and still are rich in sculpture, some of it of very high quality. The tribal institutions favour a high degree of creativity in art, and inventive sculptors such as Ochai of Otobi, who died in 1950, have produced a very rich oeuvre. The head illustrated here, which was probably a form of dance headdress, was identified as Idoma by Dr Roy Sieber, the leading authority on the art of this tribe, although its exact origin is not yet determined. Many of the semi-secret dance societies of the Idoma, according to Sieber, formerly existed for ritual head-hunting, but although now purged of these propensities, they continue to flourish. Idoma sculpture, although distinct from the southern neighbours, the Igbo, may be regarded a transitional in its mixture of naturalism and abstraction between the Igbo and the pagan tribes to the north of the Benue.’<button class="object-detail__data-toggle -is-expanded" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: inherit; margin: 20px 0px 0px; overflow: visible; appearance: button; display: flex; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; align-items: center; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-size: auto; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: padding-box; background-clip: border-box; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; border: 0px none currentcolor;" type="button" aria-live="polite">View less <span class="visually-hidden" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); border: 0px; height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">about curator's comments</button></div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">LocationNot on display</div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Exhibition historyExhibited:<br style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;" />2011 Feb-Jul, Los Angeles, Fowler Museum UCLA, Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley<br style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;" />2011 Sep-2012 Mar, Washington, National Museum of African Art, Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley<br style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;" />2012 Apr-Oct, Palo Alto, CA, Cantor Centre Stanford, Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley<br style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;" />2012…<button class="object-detail__data-toggle" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; line-height: inherit; margin: 20px 0px 0px; overflow: visible; appearance: button; display: flex; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; align-items: center; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-size: auto; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-origin: padding-box; background-clip: border-box; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; border: 0px none currentcolor;" type="button" aria-live="polite">View more <span class="visually-hidden" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); border: 0px; height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">about exhibition history</button></div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">ConditionCurl on back of head slightly loose.</div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Acquisition name<span class="vprefix" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;">Donated by: <a class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; text-decoration: none; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto;" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG139103"><span class="vterm" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: currentcolor; background-image: linear-gradient(currentcolor, currentcolor); background-position: center bottom; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 100% 2px; padding-bottom: 3px; transition: background-size 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.55, 0.085, 0.68, 0.53);">Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine </a></div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Acquisition date1954</div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">DepartmentAfrica, Oceania and the Americas</div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Registration numberAf1954,23.1089</div> <div class="object-detail__data-item" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-top: 20px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Additional IDs<span class="vprefix" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;">Previous owner/ex-collection number: <span class="vterm" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="vprefix" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;">Previous owner/ex-collection number: N/N <span class="vsuffix" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; box-sizing: border-box;">(Wellcome Collection numb</div>