Helmet mask, wood, one piece, carved from solid block. Stylized headdress projecting from forehead (broken), raised nasal septal ridge and protruding mouth and lips painted black. Slit eyes surrounded by ridge with red beads embedded (many missing). Cross hatched incising on cheeks. Curvilinear incising on scalp. Braided and unbraided fibers attached to edges of mask. Feather bundle attached to fiber "pigtail." Length of mask is 34.5 centimeters, width is 17.5 centimeters. From Central Africa, Zaire, Southwestern Congo, Songye. Materials: carved wood, pigments, glass beads, fibers, feathers.
Donor:
Dan Stuhlmueller
Collection place:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Verbatim coll. place:
Central Africa; Zaire; Southeastern Congo; Songye
Culture or time period:
Ba Songye
Collector:
Dan Stuhlmueller
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Woodcarvings (visual works)
Function:
5.3 Objects relating to the Secular and Quasi-religious Rites, Pageants, and Drama