According to M.L. Félix, the African masks produced by the clans living in the north of the Ituri region mostly adopt stylized features sculpted on a shallow base, and their decoration evokes the animal world, accompanied by color pigments similar to those that adorn the bodies during initiation rites. Similar masks, decorated with dotted lines, were however worn in Ubangi by the Ndunga and Zande of the northeast, where initiates and elders wore this type of body paint on certain occasions. Light pigments applied with a finger on a brown background. Velvety surface. Missing on the contours. Total height on base: 40 cm. The Kumu, Bakumu, Komo, live mainly in the northeast and the center in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their Bantu language is komo or kikomo. Several ethnic groups are closely intertwined with similar associations: the Mbole, Yela, Lengola, and Metoko. Their artistic production has also great similarities with that of the Metoko and Lengola. Their divination masks were displayed during the closing ceremonies of initiation and circumcision of the youth of the nkunda society. It is indeed in the region of Maniema around the Lualaba River and the Great Lakes that Lega sculpture has largely exerted its influence. A costume made of bark textiles and plant fibers concealed the wearer. Biebuck is said to have noted a great similarity between the rituals accompanying the appearance of Kumu masks and those of the muminia Lega masks.
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