Plant fibre mask "kalengula" ·  D. R. Congo, Luntu, Kasai region · ID: 3048514

Description

raffia, pigments, grass fibre, eyes and diadem-shaped headdress worked separately, base

A photo taken by the anthropologist Albert Maesen in a Luntu village in 1955 shows a masked dancer wearing a similar mask. In his field notes, Maesen states that this mask is called “kalengula” and is worn at initiation or funerals by members of the “bukalenga bwa nkashaama” brotherhood.

Only a few comparable examples of this type of plant fibre mask can be found. One object comes from the Mission Museum of the White Fathers in Ghent (AHDRC 0125719), a second is found in the holdings of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren (AHDRC 0125720).

Comparing literature

Volper, Julien, Autour de Songye, Montreuil 2012, p. 199, fig. 28