Lot 271: A Kuba/Bushoong Helmet mask

Kuba/Bushoong, D.R. Congo; H: 14 1/2"

Richly decorated with beaded decorations and applied cowrie shells, as well as thick heavy plates of applied patterned brass. Excellent internal patination.

Comments:
Helmet masks of this kind are known among the Bushoong as “Bwoom”. The Bwoom mask is quite possibly the autochthonous mask of the region, with variants in nearly all of the Kuba sub-groups. Though folk tales exist from the Bushoong to explain its appearance as a pygmy or a hydrocephalic, the mask may have more in common with other large masculine helmet masks dispersed over the wider general area. This fine old mask has been rebeaded on numerous occasions, and displays the more archaic “blindfold” style beading across the eyes, which in more modern examples becomes thin and stylized.

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

Publication History:
Remnants of Ritual: Selections from the Gelbard collection of African Art (2003) Bourgeois & Rodolitz; Pg. 40, Fig. 91

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

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