A Songye Kifwebe sculpture in analog to the well known Kifwebe mask, standing on a wooden base, knees slightly bent, protruding navel, arms in an angular position with small forearms that become hands, small breasts, the ringed neck carries the masked head, the top of the head is missing an element, the side of the abdomen and arms are pierced with two hols, the feet are laces with a string; white patina on the mask, the body has remnants of patina and glossy by use.

“Certain masking traditions of the Congo River basin personify local control of mystical power. Striated face masks known as kifwebe probably originated in North Shaba, an area inhabited by both Songye and Luba groups. Significant departures in the role and formal interpretation of this art form subsequently developed in each culture. Among the small Songye chiefdoms along the Lomami River, maskers were emissaries of the ruling elite, who relied on the ideology of witchcraft and sorcery to sustain their rule. These kifwebe members commanded a body of esoteric secret knowledge visually encoded mnemonically in the mask's features.”

Lit: The MET.

Further literatur:
Hersak, Dunja. 1986. Songye. Masks and Figure Sculpture. London: Ethnographica.

Hersak, Dunja. 2010. "Reviewing power, process, and statement: the case of Songye figures". African Arts. 43: 38-51.

Neyt, François. 2009. Songye: The Formidable Statuary of Central Africa. Munich: Prestel.

Petridis, Constantine. 2009. Art and power in the central African Savanna: Luba, Songye, Chokwe, Luluwa. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art.

sold

Height: 31 cm
Weight: 400 g