Initiation mask "ndeemba" · D. R. Congo, Yaka · ID: 3035761
Description
wood, cloth, polychrome painted, small mask face with characteristic facial features and rattan bonnet, supporting a phantastic pagoda-like superstructure with five antenna-like projections, abundant cuff of grass fibre bundles, min. dam., traces of abrasion, base;
used at circumcision rites for young boys, symbolizing fertility and virility.
The object Initiation mask “ndeemba” with the object ID 3035761 was last part of the auction 75th tribal art auction at November 30, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 111 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,500.
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Comparing literature
Bourgeois, Arthur P., Art of the Yaka and Suku, Paris 1984, p. 173 f.
Exhibition
Schmerberg, Ralf, Der Stamm der weissen Krieger, Stuttgart 1994, p. 63, ill. 29