Kifwebe Mask - Luba People - D.R. Congo - SOLD

Price: $0.00


 


This is a mask used in the ceremonies of the Kifwebe society, which exercises economic and political control by evoking the assistance of supernatural forces. This society also exists among the Songye people, who use similar masks. The grooves carved into the surface of the mask represent the subterranean realm from which the primordial couple emerged. While those on the Songye masks are cut in uninterrupted lines, those on their Luba counterparts tend to be compartmentalized into smaller sections of the surface.

17"H x 8"W x 7"D

Provenance

Owned by Marc Felix (Director of the Congo Basin Art History Research Foundation in Brussels and author of "100 Peoples of Zaire and Their Sculpture").
Obtained from above in the 1980s by Lee Bronson (Major collector of Congolese art, whose collection was published in "A Survey of Zairian Art - The Bronson Collection" authored by Joseph Cornet, the worlds leading authority on the subject.
SOLD