The Songye people live in southeastern Congo. They have an important male secret society, called ‘Bwadi Bwa Kifwebe’, which performs with these masks (male and female) and with full body costumes made of bast fibres during initiations and funerals as well as with a police function.
The present old ‘Kifwebe mask’ is carved from light-coloured, lightweight wood and exemplifies female type: with a flat crest on top of the head (whereas male ‘Kifwebe masks’ have a tall head crest).
Typical features of ‘Kifwebe masks’ include a voluminous semicircular head, a central vertical line – of dark brown colour in this case – running from the top of the head and over the short protruding nose (here with dark ‘hairs’ inserted into both nostrils) all the way to the conspicuously protruding, quadrangular mouth and the elongated chin. Further characteristics are the slightly retracted cheeks and, especially, the dense geometrically composed decoration of lines in relief covering the entire surface of the mask face. The lack of heavily protruding eyes in this special ‘Kifwebe mask’ is probably due to the stylistic influence of the Songye’s neighbours, the Luba. For the Luba, too, have a Kifwebe society with its own masks. The latter are, however, flatter and more angular in shape than their Songye counterparts.
The present mask is unusually old, shows small remains of former white and red colouring in its narrow grooves as well as excellent usage patina, especially on the inside on the back. As a result of its old age, it also shows some minor damage: a small, vertical crack in the left half of the face, several small pieces broken off (insect damage?) and a fracture of larger size on the back rim in the upper section (partly glued).
Between c. 1900 and the first third of the 20th century; H: 41 cm; W: 20.5 cm. (ME)

Provenance: Galerie Mazarine 52, Paris, purchased on 24.9.1993 (receipt enclosed); then: Viennese Private Collection.

Lit.: '100 Peoples of Zaire and their Sculpture' by Marc L. Felix, p. 165, fig. 4, 5 (Songye) and p. 79, fig. 20 (Luba).