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Source Description
Rare anthropo-zoomorphic plank masks were once used by Bembe people in circumcision rites called <em>butende</em>. Recently initiated boys living in seclusion in the forest wore them with a bark-and-banana-leaf costume, disguising themselves to beg for food in the village. The sculpture’s short projections above the forehead are identified as an owl’s tufts. The two pairs of eyes could refer to divination. The rites associated with this mask had waned by the mid-1960s.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
164593
label
Mask (Emangungu)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
164593
contentType
object
title
Mask (Emangungu)
description
Rare anthropo-zoomorphic plank masks were once used by Bembe people in circumcision rites called <em>butende</em>. Recently initiated boys living in seclusion in the forest wore them with a bark-and-banana-leaf costume, disguising themselves to beg for food in the village. The sculpture’s short projections above the forehead are identified as an owl’s tufts. The two pairs of eyes could refer to divination. The rites associated with this mask had waned by the mid-1960s.
date
possibly early 1900s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Mask
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 46 cm (18 1/8 in.)
cul
Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bembe-style maker
accession
2006.116
Source extras
tec
Wood, kaolin, colorant, and iron
tombstone
Mask (Emangungu), possibly early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bembe-style maker. Wood, kaolin, colorant, and iron; overall: 46 cm (18 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2006.116
collection
African Art
didYouKnow
White kaolin clay highlights the eyes of this carved wooden mask.
citations
citation
Herreman, Frank, Constantijn Petridis, Dick Beaulieux, Etnografisch Museum (Antwerp, Belgium), and National Museum of African Art (U.S.). 1993. <em>Face of the Spirits : Masks from the Zaire Basin</em>. Gent: Snoeck-Ducaju.
citation
Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, exh. cat., Palais Miramar, Cannes (Cannes: Palais Miramar, 1957), fig. 282. Arts primitifs dans les ateliers d'artistes, exh. cat., Musée de l'Homme, Paris (Paris: Musée de l'Homme, 1967), fig. 98.
citation
Michel Leiris and Jacqueline Delange, Afrique noire: Univers des formes (Paris: Gallimard, 1967), fig. 241.
citation
René Wassing, L'art d'Afrique noire (Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1969), fig. 41; Arts Primitifs: AfriqueOcéanie, sale cat. (Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, December 18, 1990), lot 17.
citation
Alisa LaGamma, Review of the exhibition "Face of the Spirits," African Arts, vol. 27, 1995, no. 1, p. 84.
citation
Petridis, Constantine. 2011. “New Acquisitions of African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>African Arts. </em>(44) No. 1, Spring 2011. Pg. 60, Fig. 7
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 37
creditline
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:32:00.109000
sourceId
164593
dept
African Art
coll
African Art
med
Wood, kaolin, colorant, and iron
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
4a5bdc8016742163