Buffalo mask "kiyunde"

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Description

light brown wood, matt dark brown patina, massive head with strong horns, encrustation with pigments inside, dam., cracks, missing parts through insect caused damage, traces of abrasion;
the mask was completed by a voluminous costume of grass fibres and animal skin. For the Tabwa the buffalo embodies an ambivalent character, gentle on the one hand, but of unpredictable aggressiveness when aggravated on the other. This is why the buffalo is associated with the rulers, on one side ensuring the well-being of the people, but on the other side well able to cause harm to them.

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Littérature comparée

Roberts, Allen F. & Evan M. Maurer (ed.), Tabwa, Washington D.C. 1985, p. 162 f.

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