Tribal Art

Small mortar for spices, pigments, or therapeutic ingredients. The object is carved with different faces that take up the features of the traditional masks of the group. Golden brown satin patina. Slight residue of kaolin.
The Western Pende live on the banks of the Kwilu, while the Eastern have settled on the banks of the Kasai downstream from Tshikapa. The influences of the neighboring ethnic groups, Mbla, Suku, Wongo, Leele, Kuba, and Salempasu have been imprinted on their extensive tribal art sculpture. Within this diversity the Mbuya masks, realistic ,produced every ten years, have a festive function, and embody different characters, including the chief, the diviner and his wife, the prostitute, the possessed, etc.... The masks of initiation and those of power, the minganji , represent the ancestors and occur successively during the same ceremonies, agricultural festivals, initiation and circumcision rituals mukanda , enthronement of the chief. Source: Kerchache, "L'art africain".