Mask – Feathers, Wood, Fabric – Ngeende Pwoom Itok – Kuba – Congo DRC

The Kuba Pwoom mask was danced at funerals, boys’ initiations, for entertainment, and may have also functioned for social control. This mask may have represented a wise older man at boys’ initiations. One of the principal Kuba dance masks is called pwoom itok. The chief identifying characteristic is the shape of the eyes, whose centers are cones surrounded by holes through which the wearer sees. Like many Kuba types of masks, pwoom itok is extensively polychromed, or multicolored.

Wood, fabric, sisal, feathers, encrusted patina from libation and offers.

Provenance: Manfred Schäfer, former gallery owner from Ulm, Germany. Including custom made stand.