Helmet mask ·  D. R. Congo, Kwese · ID: 3033549

Description

wood, red, black and white paint, complete with exuberant grass fibre collar at the lower rim, the actual facial plane proportionally small, heart-shaped contoured by black pigment, painted scarification marks, rooflike projecting coiffure, slightly dam., paint rubbed off, on metal base;
such bell-shaped helmet masks performed during circumcision rites for young boys. They can be found by a great number of ethnical groups in southwestern Zaire: especially with the Suku, but with the Yaka, Mbala, Hungaan, Pindi and Pende as well.

Comparing literature

Hahner-Herzog, Iris, Das Zweite Gesicht, Genf, München, New York 1997, ill. 205