Diviner's basket with a small mask "kifwebe" ·  D. R. Congo, Luba · ID: 3039851

Description

wickerwork, wood, plant fibre, flat round basket with a whitened maskette attached in the centre, eyezone and mouth accentuated with red pigment, plant fibre beard, concentrical grooves on the forehead, slightly dam. (rim on top), spot from moisture, base;
such fetish baskets belonged to a diviner “nganga”, who used them in rituals to counteract supernatural attacks by “ndoshi” (= a witch specializing in harmful supernatural interventions, akin to black magic in the Western world).

The object Diviner’s basket with a small mask “kifwebe” with the object ID 3039851 was last part of the auction 82nd Tribal Art Auction at February 27, 2016 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 200 achieved a sales price of EUR 500.

You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.

Comparing literature

Woods, Davy, Kifwebe Maskettes of the Luba and Songye, In: Tribal Art Magazine (48), Spring 2008, p.112, ill. 22

Publications

Rielau, Hans Dietrich, Afrikanische Miniaturen, Norderstedt 2011, p. 30