KUMU MASK
USD 540.00
Material_Wood
Origin_Africa
Period_Mid 1900s
Dimensions_W20cm D22cm H46cm
Product Number_#0143
Description_Komo type, coated with a layer of partially abraded kaolin. The kumu, Bakumu, Komo, live mainly in the North-East and in the centre of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their Bantu language is Komo or Kikomo. Several ethnic groups are closely intertwined, endowed with similar associations: the Mbole, the Yela, the Lengola, and the Metoko. Their artistic production also presents great similarities with that of the Metoko and the Lengola. Their divination masks were exhibited during the closing ceremonies of the initiation and circumcision of the young people of the nkunda society. It is indeed in the Maniema region around the Lualaba River and the Great Lakes that Lega sculpture has largely exerted its influence. Biebuck would have noted a great similarity between the rituals accompanying the appearance of the Kumu masks and those of the muminia masks of the Lega.