Lot: 504

87th Tribal Art Auction

Big mask "sachihongo"

Zambia, Mbunda

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
H: 18.9 inch This object is not available anymore.

light brown wood, polychrome paint, characteristic features: eyebrows in concentrical grooves, accentuated cheeks, open mouth with visible teeth, min. dam., missing parts, cracks, paint rubbed off in parts, base.
"Sachihongo" has been described as the incarnation of a hunter and/or diviner, but probably represents a chiefly ancestral character. The masks appear after the circumcision of young boys, during times of convalescence in the bush camps. The mask is completed by a crown of feathers, fiber beard and a net suit, made of the fibers of the "mushamba" tree.


Felix, Marc L. & Manuel Jordan, Makishi Lya Zambia, München 1998, p. 223 ff.