Painted wooden mask

Museum number:
5-15396
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21050015396
Accession number:
Acc.4288
Description:
Handle mask, wood, one piece, hand carved from solid block; slit eyes with incised eyebrows, with upward turning elongated nose; painted white face; raised ears and mouth with teeth, painted blue; extended chin serving as handle for mask; holes along edges for attachment of fibers. Length 25.1 cm. Width 16.2 cm. “Handle mask worn by initiates in front of the face as part of raphia costume. Traditional variations in the form and decoration... indicated to which of the three grades within the initiation group the weared belonged.”
Donor:
Dan Stuhlmueller
Collection place:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Verbatim coll. place:
Central Africa; Western Congo BaYaka
Culture or time period:
Ba Yaka
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
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Images:
Hearst Museum object titled Painted wooden mask, accession number 5-15396, described as Handle mask, wood, one piece, hand carved from solid block; slit eyes with incised eyebrows, with upward turning elongated nose; painted white face; raised ears and mouth with teeth, painted blue; extended chin serving as handle for mask; holes along edges for attachment of fibers. Length 25.1 cm. Width 16.2 cm. “Handle mask worn by initiates in front of the face as part of raphia costume. Traditional variations in the form and decoration... indicated to which of the three grades within the initiation group the weared belonged.”
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Painted wooden mask, accession number 5-15396, described as Handle mask, wood, one piece, hand carved from solid block; slit eyes with incised eyebrows, with upward turning elongated nose; painted white face; raised ears and mouth with teeth, painted blue; extended chin serving as handle for mask; holes along edges for attachment of fibers. Length 25.1 cm. Width 16.2 cm. “Handle mask worn by initiates in front of the face as part of raphia costume. Traditional variations in the form and decoration... indicated to which of the three grades within the initiation group the weared belonged.”

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