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Swirling into motion, <em>egúngún </em>masquerade costumes appear during annual festivities to bless the community. Manifesting ancestral spirits, they serve as a bridge between the living and the otherworld. The fabric panels create a dwelling place for ancestral spirits. Arranged and selected according to Yorùbá design sense (ojú-ọnà), this mask incorporates hundreds of African, Asian, and European fabrics. These include imported damasks, velvets, faux furs, and embroideries, as well as local indigo-dyed cottons.

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Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
71475e7cd187701d
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
148746
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "id": "148746",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume",
    "description": "Swirling into motion, <em>egúngún </em>masquerade costumes appear during annual festivities to bless the community. Manifesting ancestral spirits, they serve as a bridge between the living and the otherworld. The fabric panels create a dwelling place for ancestral spirits. Arranged and selected according to Yorùbá design sense (ojú-ọnà), this mask incorporates hundreds of African, Asian, and European fabrics. These include imported damasks, velvets, faux furs, and embroideries, as well as local indigo-dyed cottons.",
    "date": "1900s",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.187",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Mask"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 167.6 x 66 x 40.6 cm (66 x 26 x 16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker"
    ],
    "accession": "1976.187"
}

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Document identity
{
    "localId": "148746",
    "label": "Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
    "id": "148746",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume",
    "description": "Swirling into motion, <em>egúngún </em>masquerade costumes appear during annual festivities to bless the community. Manifesting ancestral spirits, they serve as a bridge between the living and the otherworld. The fabric panels create a dwelling place for ancestral spirits. Arranged and selected according to Yorùbá design sense (ojú-ọnà), this mask incorporates hundreds of African, Asian, and European fabrics. These include imported damasks, velvets, faux furs, and embroideries, as well as local indigo-dyed cottons.",
    "date": "1900s",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.187",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Mask"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 167.6 x 66 x 40.6 cm (66 x 26 x 16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker"
    ],
    "accession": "1976.187"
}
Document source extras
{
    "tec": "cotton, velvet, flannel, dye, faux fur, leather, cowrie shells",
    "tombstone": "Egúngún Masquerade Dance Costume, 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker. Cotton, velvet, flannel, dye, faux fur, leather, cowrie shells; overall: 167.6 x 66 x 40.6 cm (66 x 26 x 16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1976.187",
    "collection": "African Art",
    "didYouKnow": "The striped netting on the \"face\" of this masquerade costume allows the wearer to see out while keeping their identity concealed.",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Aremu, P. S. O. \"Between Myth and Reality: Yoruba Egungun Costumes as Commemorative Clothes.\" <em>Journal of Black Studies</em> 22, no. 1 (1991).",
            "page_number": "p. 6-14",
            "url": "www.jstor.org/stable/2784493."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Fitzgerald, Mary Ann, Henry J. Drewal, and Moyo Okediji. \"Transformation through Cloth: An Egungun Costume of the Yoruba.\" <em>African Arts</em> 28, no. 2 (1995)",
            "page_number": "p. 55-57",
            "url": "doi:10.2307/3337226."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Drewal, Margaret Thompson. Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992."
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.187",
    "creditline": "Gift of Katherine C. White",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 07:38:23.733000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 148746,
    "dept": "African Art",
    "coll": "African Art",
    "med": "cotton, velvet, flannel, dye, faux fur, leather, cowrie shells",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
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