Helmet mask "mukyeem" ·  D. R. Congo, Kuba · ID: 3036740

Description

rattan framework, covered with plant fibre bast, decorated with embroidered cowrie shells and strings of glass beads, facial plane covered with leather, grass fibre cuff at the lower rim, min. dam., fine cracks, slight traces of abrasion;
this mask type performs at funerary rituals of notables and evokes death. The predominant white colour of the cowrie snails serves as a sign of mourning and is associated with the desiccated bones of the ancestors.

Comparing literature

Herreman, Frank & Constantijn Petridis (ed.), Face of the Spirits, Tervuren 1993, p. 136 f.