A Buyu mask, DR Congo. glossy patina; signs of ritual use and age. Certificate of origin and provenance.

"North of the Tabwa live the Boyo people who have had a history of communication with the neighboring Luba, Hemba, (Wa)Bembe, and Sikasingo, the last a small group living among the Bembe. The Boyo, distantly related to the Luba groups, shared certain common traditions with them. Like those of neighboring groups, figures represented key ancestors who were honored as well as importuned for aid and protection." (Robbins and Nooter, 1984: p. 1220).

"The Buyu worship to nature spirits and to ancestors. When bad luck arrives, they try to understand the will of the ancestors either through dream interpretation or divination. The Buyu immortalized their chiefs and ancestors in vigorous figures characterized by a massive head, long, cylindrical torsos, square shoulders, and bulging trunk. The face is triangular in shape. The forehead is marked by circularly arched eyebrows and the eyes have a coffee-bean shape. The jaw dominates the mouth, and the chin is angular. A hatched motif simulates a stylized beard. These statues are stylistically so close to those by neighboring ethnic groups who also live on the west banks of the lake – such as the Holoholo, the Binji, and the Bangubangu – that it is sometimes difficult to tell the styles apart. These figures are kept in small huts and are displayed in series of five to seven, and have either a beneficial or a malefic influence on everyday life, so they require a cult and associated offerings. Before leaving for the hunt, the men go there to rub their weapons with white clay; if the hunt has been good, they offer a few trophies upon their return. Sometimes bust figures were also left outside the ancestor shrine, either in the village or in the forest." Source: African Art Museum (Zyama)

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Height: 29 cm without stand
Weight: 1,2 kg incl. stand