Large helmet mask with buffalo horns · D. R. Congo, Northern Angola / Southern Congo, Holo · ID: 3052285
Rolf Kunitsch, Münster, Germany
Description
wood, pigments, original repair, insect damage, base
A formally very similar helmet mask, almost the same size and with equally remarkable buffalo horns, was published in 1982 as fig. 111 by Neyt (AHDRC 0016486). Neyt reports that this type of mask is called “muelu-mbambula” and that several of these masks originate from the province of Bandundu. Two of them are illustrated there as fig. 112 and 113. They are said to have been the property of various clans in a village.
There is a very strong stylistic and functional connection between the mask traditions of the Holo and their neighbours to the north, the Yaka and Suku. Both use helmet-shaped masks with a thick collar made of raffia. The Suku call them “hemba” and the Yaka “mbala”. They are used in the initiation rites of the “mukanda” society, which is also present among the Holo.
Comparing literature
Neyt, François, Die Kunst der Holo, München 1982, p. 33 f. & p. 137, fig. 111 ff. Roy, Christopher D., Kilengi, Afrikanische Kunst aus der Sammlung Bareiss, München 1997, p. 221, ill. 132