Mask "tundu" · D. R. Congo, Pende · ID: 3034536
Paolo Morigi, Magliaso, Switzerland
Sothey’s Paris, 6 Juin 2005, lot 150
Description
wood, blackish brown patina, kaolin, striking forehead grooves, a bonnet made from plant fibres at the back, beard and coiffure made from animal hair, collection number “G.F.K. 266”, rep. (mouth backside), slight traces of abrasion, socle;
“tundu”, the male clown and its female counterpart “gandumbu” were not originally worked in wood. The oldest villagers remember when both wore sacks of raffia pulled over the head, with crude holes for the eyes. The initial suggestion for a wooden-faced “tundu” came from a Belgian.
The object Mask “tundu” with the object ID 3034536 was last part of the auction 72nd tribal art auction at March 9, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 458.
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Comparing literature
Strother, Z.S., Inventing masks, Chicago 1998, p. 127 f.
Publications
Morigi, Paolo, Raccolta di un amatore d'arte primitiva, Bern 1980, p. 300, ill. 266