Rare skull mask ·  D. R. Congo, Vili · ID: 3039015

Description

human skull, natural gum, wood, mirror glass, white and black pigment, nose sculpted in wood and fixed with natural resin, tubular cavities modelled around eyes and ears, filled with magical charges and sealed with mirror glass, forehead zone with reddish brown patina, polished, remains of teeth, lower jaw missing, base;
the skulls were initially buried for a relatively short period, then exhumed to be decorated. Like the numerous Vili-Kongo “nkisi” fetishes, they bear magical charges in cavities. But up to nowadays there is only little information about the preservation and ritualization of the extremely rare skull masks.

The object Rare skull mask with the object ID 3039015 was part of the auction 80th Tribal Art Auction on June 27, 2015. The object with the lot number 496 achieved a sales price of EUR 7,500 with an asking price of EUR 2,500.

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Comparing literature

Doustar, Martin, Golgotha, The Cult of skulls, Beveren-Leie 2014, p. 26