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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.
Page data
- 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"
],
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"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"
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"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.187/1976.187_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
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"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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