A Superb and Rare Lwalwa Mask, Democratic Republic of the Congo

of deep hollowed lozenge form, the abstract face with cylindrical protruding mouth, long flat vertically protruding nose bisecting the slit eyes framed by C-shaped ears, surmounted by an elegantly curved coiffure with geometric design; exceptionally fine aged patina with red, white and black pigment.

Collected in situ by Karel Timmermans, 1962-1965
Paul Timmermans, Tervuren
Ernest Ascher, Paris
Acquired from the above, late 1960s

The Lwalwa, living in the western Kasai region, have a long tradition of cultural and linguistic exchange with other central African people, including the Mbagani, Salampasu, Kete, Lunda, Yaka, Suku and Kongo (Felix 1987: 94). The Lwalwa pantheon is dominated by the Supreme Being Mvidie Mukulu, and Nzambi, the first creator, who is omniscient. Lwalwa art is most famous for the powerful, highly cubistic masks of which the Silberman mask is a  magnificent example. While the nose-profile according to Ceyssens (in MRAC 1995: 327) refers to the long beak of the calao bird, the characteristic protrusions on the temples represent skin decoration, dejindula or kankolo.

The worn small hole between the mouth and nose, serving for the attachment of a rope that was clasped between the teeth of the performer (cf. African-American Institute 1975: 104, text to fig. 76) as well as the deep patina on the mask’s interior suggest that the Silberman mask is of great age. Highly unusual is the hook on top of the nose: The symmetric arrangement of the mask, confronted with the dynamic jutting nose and the protruding cylindrical mouth, all connected by a warm sange-de-boeuf-colored patina, make the Silberman mask one of the most impressive of its kind. That Ernest Ascher, Picasso's friend, would have owned this mask, is not a surprise. For the influence of Lwalwa masks on Picasso's sculptures see Rubin (1984: 324).

For a closely related mask, also collected by Karel Timmermans, cf. Lehuard (1983: 41), sold at Sotheby's Paris, December 5, 2006, lot 123. For another related example collected in 1930 by T. Fourche and now in the collection of the Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, cf. MRAC (1995: cat. 102, pp. 140 and 327). Regarding the patination of the latter example, virtually identical to the Silberman mask, Ceyssen (in MRAC 1995: 327) notes: "The red skin-color is obtained using the seeds of [the] kakula bush (Bixa orellana) mixed with oil. Once this has dried, one fixes the red color by rubbing it in with fruit of itungulu (Amomum citratum). This red base penetrates into the wood quite rapidly and gradually darkens. In this mask there is a secondary red upper-layer [...] whose composition remains unknown to us, and that appears 'fresher' than the ground-layer."