Mask, wood, one piece, hand carved from solid block; triangular face with raised eyebrows and scarification (?) raised on forehead and cheeks; upturned nose and protruding lips with carved teeth; holes drilled around all edges for attachment of raffia hair. Length 23.4 cm. Width 18.4 cm. “Wooden masks (mbuya) of various types are worn in dances when the young men return to the village after circumcision in the initiation schools.”
Donor:
Dan Stuhlmueller
Collection place:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Verbatim coll. place:
Central Africa; Zaire; Western Congo; Pende
Culture or time period:
Ba Pende
Collector:
Dan Stuhlmueller
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Masks (costume)
Function:
5.3 Objects relating to the Secular and Quasi-religious Rites, Pageants, and Drama