Lot: 456

87th Tribal Art Auction

Mask board

D. R. Congo, Shi

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
H: 14.6 inch This object is not available anymore.

wood, dark brown patina, kaolin, of concave vaulted form, carved with two mask faces on top of each other, reminding of skulls, pierced around rim, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion.
Present piece looks like a canoe with two stylized heads inside and represents primal ancestors. It reminds of the male/female ancestral plaques of the Nande, Hunde and Kumu. They were placed on an altar in the meeting house and sacrificed to during enthronement rites, and after the death of important clan members.


Felix, Marc L., 100 Peoples of Zaire and their Sculpture, Brussels 1987, p. 157, ill. 5