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Ngbaka mask SOLD

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DESCRIPTION 

of oval form and small  proportions, the elliptical mouth beneath the straight nose with horizontal lines leading to the forehead and bisecting the oval eyes with eybrows incised two parallel dot lines; fine, slightly glossy medium to dark brown and white Kaolin patina.

NOTES
Two colored masks are often associated with mental illness.

The Ngbaka live on a grassy plateau in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, southeast of the Ubangi River. They are farmers who migrated into this area from near lake Chad, to the Northwest, according to Felix (1987: 120). Ngbaka figurative art is characterized by the greatest simplicity of form, where the essential elements are reduced to a concave facial plane bi-sected by a ridged section which terminates in the nose. Cf. Herremann and Petridis (1993: 227) for a closely related mask and CID (1950: figure 56) for a female figure. 


Petridis (in Herreman and Petridis 1993: 224) notes that 'the ethnic situation of the Ubangi area is extremely complex. The many migrations, mutual contacts and interactions, have resulted in certain traits becoming shared among the various groups who inhabit this region.' The Ubangi masks (which include the Ngbaka) include a wide variety of forms, so it is difficult to say specifically where a mask originated. However, '...it is beyond dispute that the Ngbaka have used masks within the scope of the initiation and circumcision rituals, called gaza. Some sources speak of a dagara mask worn by the man who is charged with with the instruction and circumcision of the initiates, during the festival which follows the young men's period of seclusion. Other sources relate that the initiates themselves wear a moginda to amuse themselves, as well as to scare the girls during the initiates' exodus from their place of seclusion. Finally, the 'discipline master' would also be adorned with a mask inside the enclosure where the initiation itself takes place.'

Price: sold

Description based on unsold lot 85 from May '05 Sotheby's

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Tel +32 3 227.35.40 : Click to email David Norden. St.Katelijnevest 27. B2000 Antwerpen. Belgium.