Description

The Chokwe people are an ethnic group found in Angola, southwestern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and northwestern parts of Zambia. The Chokwe people influenced the art of many neighboring tribes, including the Lunda, Mbunda, Lovale, and Mbangani. They are regionally famous for their exceptional crafts work, particularly with baskets, pottery, mask carving, statues, stools and art objects produced to celebrate and validate the royal court.  Chokwe masks were used by male dancers with costumes during initiation ceremonies to bring forth concepts of ideal beauty attributed to women. Men danced to dramatize the attributes of women, the masks were used to impersonate an ancestor or spirit. This is a wooden face mask, frontal coiffure with a wig like hair dress made from knotted fibers to imitate a form of wig long favored by chokwe women. It has a brown patina and signs of old age.

Material: Wood and Fibre

Condition: Good

Age:approx 50-60yrs

Origin: Democratic Republic of Congo