Mask (Emangungu)
Unknown Artist
possibly early 1900s
Medium
Wood, kaolin, colorant, and iron
Dimensions
h. 46 cm
Classification
Mask
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
2006.116
About this artwork
Among the Bembe, anthropo-zoomorphic plank masks are used in circumcision rites called butende. They are worn along with a costume of bark and banana leaves by the initiated boys who beg for food in the village while living in seclusion in the forest. The sculpture’s short projections above the forehead are identified as an owl’s tufts. The two pairs of eyes could refer to divination.