AIC's 44th Annual Meeting

This technical analysis of two Yoruba Egungun masquerade ensembles in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) investigates the fabrics and other materials present in these colorful costumes. Egungun masquerades are traditions in which composite ensembles are worn and danced to commemorate lineage ancestors in West African Yoruba communities. Constructed from layered patchwork lappets, each eye-dazzling ensemble conceals its wearer with an assortment of fabrics and other materials, sourced locally and internationally. This technical analysis builds on prior studies that have described the contextual importance of Egungun in Yoruba culture and one conservation study in which a revolutionary mount was made for an Egungun at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Consultations with scholars of Yoruba cultural material are helping to illuminate the cultural origins of the NMAfA’s Egungun, while research into West African fabric history aims to identify the fabric types and their sources. Characterization of the varied materials will complement this information by identifying fibers, metals, and elastomers through polarizing light microscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at the NMAfA, as well as Raman spectroscopy at the Museum Conservation Institute. This will help date components in the costumes and plan for their long-term care in a museum context. Evaluation of the materials and manufacturing techniques in these large and complex garments will expand the biographies of these particular Egungun, which have minimal provenance, and contribute to the scholarship of Egungun and the West African textile trade. Additionally, examination of similar masquerade costumes in other museums is expected to provide a comparative look at the textiles in Egungun and may afford a starting point for understanding the aesthetics, provenance, chronology and cultural standards for their selection.