Chokwe Mwana Pwo Ritual Mask
African Chokwe Mwana Pwo Mask, having a carved wooden face with dark red pigment and scarification marks, the whole decorated with shells and colored beads, twisted twine hair and a woven raffia cowl. H. 14 1/2 inches; H. (with custom stand) 20 1/2 inches
The Chokwe are a Bantu-speaking people who have long inhabited the southern part of the Congo, northeastern Angola, and, more recently, the northwestern corner of Zambia. They create mukishi or makishi (masks) to represent ancestral spirits that bring positive supernatural influences to communities during mukanda (the initiation of boys).
Provenance: Property of a prominent Dallas ethnographica collector
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African Chokwe Mwana Pwo Mask, having a carved wooden face with dark red pigment and scarification marks, the whole decorated with shells and colored beads, twisted twine hair and a woven raffia cowl. H. 14 1/2 inches; H. (with custom stand) 20 1/2 inches
The Chokwe are a Bantu-speaking people who have long inhabited the southern part of the Congo, northeastern Angola, and, more recently, the northwestern corner of Zambia. They create mukishi or makishi (masks) to represent ancestral spirits that bring positive supernatural influences to communities during mukanda (the initiation of boys).
Provenance: Property of a prominent Dallas ethnographica collector