Mask panel

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Description

wood, colour pigments,

Traditional mask panels known as “kalengula” bear carved faces in the form of “kifwebe” masks.

The mask face superimposed to this board-like panel, on the other hand, reminds of the heads of “nkisi” fetish figures of the Songye. Especially of those with peculiar laughing mouths, as they are located by Neyt in the northern Milembwe, Belande and Eki region (Neyt, 2004, p. 56).

One of these figures was attributed by de Grunne to a “master from Muyemba” (de Grunne, 2001, p. 181, fig. 22).

The present mask panel is decorated with concentric incised lines forming a kind of diadem above the face and two arms with joined hands below, enclosing a stylised “kifwebe” mask face. For an iconographically comparable object, see AHDRC 0041476.

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Comparing literature

Neyt, François, Songye, Brussels 2004, p. 56 ff. de Grunne, Bernard, Masterhands, Brussels 2001, p. 181, fig. 22

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Publications

AHDRC: 0041475

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