Eket Tee · Plate VII · The Round Face · Pre-Order (Ships ASAP)

Eket is the coastal people of the Qua Iboe mouth, with a carving tradition of its own — the round, disc-faced style associated with the Ogbom observance. The plate renders the round face crowned with survey rays. Navy shirt carries cream ink; white shirt carries deep survey navy.

Hero cut of Plate VII from the Three Waters Collection. NINE PEOPLES · THREE WATERS.

History

The Eket — the Ekid people, whose language stands apart from its Ibibio neighbours — hold the coast where the Qua Iboe River meets the sea. Their carvers created one of the region's most distinctive sculptural styles: the round, disc-faced figures and drums of the Ogbom observance honoring the earth's fertility, works now prized in museum collections worldwide. Their shore was also a threshold of change — the Qua Iboe Mission established itself on this river in 1887 — yet the round face endured as Eket's signature: the sun-disc of a people who carved their own way of seeing.