Rare skull mask · D. R. Congo, Vili · ID: 3041911
Thomas Schulze, Berlin, Germany
Klaus-Jochen Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
Description
human skull, natural gum, wood, mirror glass, white and black pigment, nose sculpted in wood, tubular cavities modelled around eyes and ears, filled with magical charges and sealed with mirror glass, 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 3041911 was part of the auction 85th Tribal Art Auction on March 4, 2017. The object with the lot number 453 achieved a sales price of EUR 5,500 with an asking price of EUR 2,000.
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Comparing literature
Doustar, Martin, Golgotha, The Cult of skulls, Beveren-Leie 2014, p. 26