Artwork Page for Mask (ndeemba)

Details / Information for Mask (ndeemba)

Mask (ndeemba)

early 1900s

Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yaka-style carver

Medium
Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton
Measurements
Overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Katherine C. White 1969.8
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Look under the fluffy layers of raffia fiber to see the handle; this mask was "worn" by holding it up to the face.

Description

This Mask (Ndeemba) has been featured prominently in the African galleries since making its debut at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1962. Dated to the 1900s, the object is part of a group of eight masks that appear at the end of the circumcision and puberty ritual (n-khanda) for Yaka boys. It would have marked the new status of the boys who became men and commemorated their re-entry into the village. Affirming age-long tradition, such masks are worn by the master of the initiation or by the newly initiated himself.
Wood mask with the face painted white with traces of blue and red, pronounced ears, a large curved nose, and circle eyes with slits in the center, as if closed. A hat-like structure thins and curves out and up into four pole-like extensions on each side of the structure. The face of the mask is nestled in bushy, light brown, dried palm strips.

Mask (ndeemba)

early 1900s

Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yaka-style carver

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