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Source Description
This <em>Mask (Ndeemba) </em>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 <em>(n-khanda) </em>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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
144863
label
Mask (ndeemba)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
144863
contentType
object
title
Mask (ndeemba)
description
This <em>Mask (Ndeemba) </em>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 <em>(n-khanda) </em>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.
date
early 1900s
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Mask
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.)
cul
Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yaka-style carver
accession
1969.8
Source extras
tec
Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton
tombstone
Mask (ndeemba), early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yaka-style carver. Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton; overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1969.8
collection
African Art
formerAccessionNumbers
621.68
didYouKnow
Look under the fluffy layers of raffia fiber to see the handle; this mask was "worn" by holding it up to the face.
citations
citation
Fagg, William, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 1968. <em>African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, cat. no. 231.
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>1969 Year in Review</em>. The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1, cat. 132.
citation
Drewal, Henry John. African Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1989, fig.10.
citation
Petridis, Constantine. "A New Installation for African Art in Cleveland." Tribal 3, no. 36 (Autumn/Winter 2004): 68-73
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>., 151, 1991b.
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 412
citation
Petridis, Constantijn. <em>South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.
page_number
Reproduced: cat. 39, p. 108 - 109
citation
"Current Exhibitions", Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em>. Vol. 43 no. 08, October 2003
page_number
Reproduced: p. 2
citation
"A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 12
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Museum Masters : 2016-17 Companion Guide</em>. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 14
citation
Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. <em>Second Careers : Two Tributaries in African Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019
page_number
Reproduced: p. 12, (detail); p. 60, pl. 6; mentioned: p. 22, 29, 31.
citation
Smith, Fred T., Judith Perani, Joseph L. Underwood, and Martha J. Ehrlich. The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 254-255, no. 9.4
creditline
Gift of Katherine C. White
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:26:45.738000
sourceId
144863
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
6882bfc39a0bca70