African Arts Gallery

Plank mask whose only relief resides in a prominent forehead extended by an imposing triangular nose. The diamond-shaped mouth streaked with teeth is a particularity of certain eastern Kete masks.
Grainy matte patina, polychrome highlights, cracks.
The Kete, established between the Luba and the Songye, have intermingled with the Kuba and the Tschokwe and derive their subsistence from hunting, net fishing, and agriculture. Their matrilineal society worships nature spirits called mungitchi through offerings and incantations. Believing in reincarnation, they also fear a supreme god called mboom. The rituals of their initiation societies are different from those of the Kuba. Some Kete villages used to pay tax to the King of the Kuba. Groups borrowed masks from their neighbors or picked up certain features that they combined with their own creations. Their masks, which are worn by initiates or their instructors as the case may be, are associated with initiation ceremonies and funeral rituals.