African Arts Gallery

Held in the hand, or suspended in the boxes, this type of small African mask for initiation, Mbuya , emanates from the Pende of the West. The Yaka influence is noticeable by the invoice of the slightly upturned nose.
The gaze recalls the custom among the Pende not to stare in public. This African Pendé mask has a raffia adornment around the face. Total height on base: 25 cm.
The western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the eastern people have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salampasu imprinted on their large tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity, the Mbuya masks, realistic, produced every ten years, take on a festive function, and embody different characters, including the chief fumu or ufumu , the diviner and his wife, the prostitute, the jester, tundu, the possessed, etc... The Mbuya initiation masks linked to the initiation mukanda and those of power, the minganji, meanwhile, represent the ancestors and occur successively during the same ceremonies, agricultural festivals, rituals of initiation and mukanda circumcision, enthronement of the chief. (Art and Life in Africa, C.D. Roy)