Kivu Region Mask, Possibly Bembe, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Anuschka Menist, Haarlem
Allan Stone, New York, by the 1980s

The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, Power Incarnate: Allan Stone's Collection of Sculpture from the Congo, May 14 - September 4, 2011

Christie's, New York, Selections from the Allan Stone Collection, November 12, 2007, illustrated on p. 160
Kevin D. Dumouchelle, Power Incarnate: Allan Stone's Collection of Sculpture from the Congo, Greenwich, Connecticut, 2011, p. 43, cat. 20

The Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to a cluster of hunter and gatherer peoples including the Bembe and Lega. The art traditions of this region are diverse and styles vary greatly from one village to the next. Ethnic attributions of authorship are therefore sometimes difficult and have to remain vague. While the mask from the Allan Stone Collection has previously been identified as Lega (see the classification of its original photograph in the Anuschka Menist files, GVR archive, Yale University, no. "55399"), the size, facial features and color scheme suggests a Bembe origin. 

In his discussion of another Kivu region mask, with similar color scheme and also possibly Bembe, Petridis (in Herreman and Petridis 1993: 244, cat. 92) notes: "Elanda is the name of one of the societies that has its roots with non-Lega groups. Membership in the society is attained by way of a long process of initiation. All activities focus around the elanda mask. Closed mask performances are preceeded and followed by a ceremonial procession in the village. A key-figure in the initiations, called abangwa, also has the privilege to wear the mask and paraphernalia as a sign of his power, prestige and status. The mask is stored in a secret place and must on no occasion be looked upon by someone not initiated. As an ebu'a it denotes the hidden and fearsome power of the society. At the same time it imparts a feeling of solidarity among the members, and offers them protection against sickness and danger."

The Stone mask retains much of its original red and white (kaolin) coloration as well as parts of its original feather fringe. Furthermore, it has attachments of snake and other animal skin on the reverse, attesting to the mask's great spiritual significance. In this context it is a major observation that the area above the proper right eye shows hundreds of scratch marks. Each of these is an individual trace of ritual practice in which a diviner or ritual expert would have shaved away small bits of wood for consumption as "medicine".

Of unusually large scale and mesmerizing beauty, the Kivu mask from the Allan Stone Collection is one of the last major examples of its type to remain in private hands.