Rare mask ·  D. R. Congo, Azande · ID: 3042045

Description

wood, dark brown patina, pierced almond-shaped eyes, open mouth with separately worked teeth, raised headband, min. dam., small missing parts, traces of insect caused damage and abrasion;
the Azande most probably possess no true mask tradition. The rare examples attributed to them differ considerably. They were used by the “mani” society as well as in funeral ceremonies. Stylistically they are linked to the masks of the Central African Republic, which suggests that they were imported about 1910, at the same time as the “mani"society.

The object Rare mask with the object ID 3042045 was last part of the auction 85th Tribal Art Auction at March 4, 2017 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 346 achieved a sales price of EUR 5,000.

You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.

Comparing literature

Felix, Marc L., 100 Peoples of Zaire and their Sculpture, Brussels 1987, p. 203 Herreman, Frank & Constantijn Petridis (ed.), Face of the Spirits, Tervuren 1993, p. 222 f.

Publications

AHDRC: 0139851