Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pende-style maker / early 1900s
Female Mask (Gambanda or Kambanda)
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Female Mask (Gambanda or Kambanda) as mask (Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pende-style maker · early 1900s).
This female mask would have performed in a collective multimedia event with audience participation.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this mask as Wood, plant fiber, and colorant.
The museum's collection notes: Realized in typical Central Pende style, this mask is believed to represent gambanda , the chief's wife. In light of Pende theories about gender and physiognomy, the mask is an ideal expression of a woman's facial features and thus reflects her calm, obedient, peaceful, and self-controlled demeanor. The intricate hairstyle consisting of hundreds of miniature twists imitates a once fashionable hairdo. Pende sculptors inherited their position and often worked on the outskirts of the village so that few could see them at work.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtFemale Mask (Gambanda or Kambanda)Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.