A very old mask of hard wood. In oblong form, with concave face bulging inwards, slit coffee bean eyes, with long, narrow nose and a small, open mouth with inserted rows of teeth, above a pointed chin with four diagonal grooves. From the flat, stylised hairstyle above, runs a central, vertical bulge over the forehead, across the bridge of the nose, and down to the tip of the nose in long relief lines (scarification marks?). Similar, short relief lines also appear on the temples, in front of the sketched ears. The facial area of this mask was probably originally coloured in white (colour rubbed off due to age), while the hairstyle, forehead and the border of the mask are coloured black. This mask, which was used in initiations, displays a very old usage patina on the front and back, as well as only minimal damage considering its age: some small breaks and a crack in its left cheek, which was glued with black tree resin on the rear inner side a long time ago (old original repair). H: 37 cm, W: 18 cm. 19th century to around 1900. (ME)

Provenance: Austrian Private Collection.

Lit.: ‘Het gelaat van de geesten.’ Maskers uit het Zairebekken' by Frank Herreman & Constantijn Petridis, fig. 110 and p. 221.