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Mask (Emangungu)

possibly early 1900s

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Among the Bembe, anthropo-zoomorphic plank masks are used in circumcision rites called <em>butende</em>. They are worn along with a costume of bark and banana leaves by the initiated boys who beg for food in the village while living in seclusion in the forest. The sculpture’s short projections above the forehead are identified as an owl’s tufts. The two pairs of eyes could refer to divination.

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Details

  • Title: Mask (Emangungu)
  • Date Created: possibly early 1900s
  • Physical Dimensions: Overall: 46 cm (18 1/8 in.)
  • Provenance: Franyo and Gustave Schindler, New York, NY, Jacques Boussard, Paris, France, Lucien Van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium, private collection, Belgium, (Sotheby's, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Mask
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2006.116
  • Medium: Wood, kaolin, colorant, and iron
  • Department: African Art
  • Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bembe-style maker
  • Credit Line: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
  • Collection: African Art
  • Accession Number: 2006.116

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