Lot 249: A fine Pende face mask

Pende, D.R. Congo; H: 16"

Of typical form. The woven raffia headdress, with embroidered design, attached to the brow of the facemask; fiber beard attached to perimeter of attenuated chin.

Comments:
Masks such as this, known as Giwoyo, were used in the theatrical performance that accompanies Pende Mukanda initiation. This includes some sixty characters in a variety of masks and costumes, some of which are believed to have magical and curative powers. Giwoyo is distinguished by its elongated wooden beard and emerges at dusk directing his face toward the setting sun. Representing the ancestor, Giwoyo is a bridge between the visible and invisible, sacred and profane, living and dead, tradition and what is new. In its curative aspect, the mask supplies a tied strand of whitened raffia and is occasionally represented in ivory Gikhokho pendants. De Sousberghe and others have suggested the origin of the Giwoyo type mask with first encounters of bearded European Missionaries before the beginning of the 18th century in what is now Angola.

Provenance:
- Zollman Collection, IND
- Gelbard collection, NY

Publication History:
Remnants of Ritual: Selections from the Gelbard collection of African Art (2003) Bourgeois & Rodolitz; Pg. 36, Fig. 80

Exhibition History:
Exhibition History: USA: "Remnants of Ritual, Selections from the Gelbard Collection of African Art":
- University Park, IL: Governors State University, February 2003
- Krannert, IL: Krannert Art Museum, 26 August-26 October, 2003
- Kansas City, MO: Belger Art Foundation/UNIVERSITY of Missouri-
Kansas City, 2004
- Park Forest, IL: Tall Grass Art Association, 2005

Price Realized: $2,000

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