Mask "kholuka" · D. R. Congo, Yaka · ID: 3037456
sold
EUR 1,000
Size
H: 98 cm
H: 38.6 inch
Description
small wooden mask face, embedded in abundant grass fibre cuff, rattan bonnet coated with cloth, supporting a phantastic pagoda-like superstructure with a seated human figure and a reptile, wood and cloth dyed with polychrome pigments, min. dam., cracks, small missing parts, traces of abrasion;
was used in context of circumcision rituals. They were reserved for the carers of the initiands. Their appearance shows the end of the seclusion time. The dance of the masks is accompanied by chants confirming the male supremacy and the social rank of the young men.
Comparing literature
Bourgeois, Arthur P., Art of the Yaka and Suku, Paris 1984, p. 178