Anthropomorphic mask "mbuya" ·  D. R. Congo, Pende · ID: 3050033

Description

wood, pigments, raffia, plant fibres, missing parts (insect caused damage)

The Pende use dance masks “mbuya”, which appear during non-ritual festivities to entertain the village community.

The mask figures represent different characters and role models of Pende society. There are embodiments of chiefs (“fumu”), wise old men with long beards (“giwoyo” or “muyombo”), executioners (“pumbu”), fortune tellers (“nganga ngombo”) and bewitched persons “mbangu”, up to representations of clowns “tundu” and prostitutes “ngobo”.