Helmet mask; raffia cloth on wicker frame decorated with spotted cat (?) fur, beads and cowries; long topknot representing elephant trunk hangs in front of face; shredded raffia fringe at base in front.
Donor:
Berta Bascom and William Russell Bascom
Collection place:
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Verbatim coll. place:
Central Africa, Congo (Kinshasa), Ba-Kuba
Culture or time period:
Ba Kuba
Collector:
Berta Bascom and William Russell Bascom
Collection date:
1968
Materials:
Fur (hair material), Glass (material), Raffia (fiber), and Wicker
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Masks (costume)
Function:
5.3 Objects relating to the Secular and Quasi-religious Rites, Pageants, and Drama
Accession date:
December 14, 1973
Context of use:
Royal mask representing a son of Woot, the legendary ancestor who married his sister, Ngaady a mwaash, and founded the ruling Kuba dynasty. Worn in circumcision rites by a man who belongs to the royal clan but who cannot succeed to the kinship. The royal mask is opposed by a wooden helmet mask (mboom).
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Dimensions:
height 46 centimeters
Comment:
Illustrated: Bascom, 1973:111B/W photo stored with Bascom Collection Index Card File. Native name and meaning: mwaash a mbooy. Exhibited: Art Dpt., Contra Costa Coll. 1968; Coll. of Marin Art Gallery 1969; Dpt of Art., Sta. Rosa Jr. Coll. 1969.
Loans:
S1968-1969 #39: Contra Costa College (November 18, 1968–December 27, 1968), S1968-1969 #87: College of Marin (April 3, 1969–May 2, 1969), S1969-1970 #32: Santa Rosa Junior College (October 24, 1969–October 31, 1969), S1981-1982 #31: Fiberworks Center for the Textile Arts (December 30, 1981–February 1, 1982), and S1989-1990 #13: California State University, East Bay (January 10, 1990–February 13, 1990)