Such wooden masks were worn in front of the face, which was the purpose of the fastening eyelets around their edge and the slits for eyesight. They do not belong to the urban-court context, but to a village context, where they were used by the Ekpo men's society, which spread beyond the borders of the kingdom into neighboring ethnic groups. Depicted is a stylized human face (according to the hairstyle a woman), with calm, unmoving facial features in perfect lateral symmetry. The stands for order and harmony, the immobility for calm, serenity, patience, moderation, "coolness" - that is, the spiritual state of the ancestors as a social ideal. Text: Dietmar Neitzke.