Anthropomorphic mask - Ngbandi - DR Congo

Anthropomorphic mask – Ngbandi – Democratic Republic of the Congo

An exceptionally rare work, with a quiet presence and a striking formal balance, drawn from a body of works that is now all but vanished.

Ngbandi mask of exceptional rarity, belonging to a stylistic corpus that is very underrepresented in public and private collections. Ngbandi masked productions, located mainly in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the far reaches of the Ubangi, are among the most discreet and least extensively documented ensembles in Central Africa.

This mask stands out for its balanced frontal construction, an oval face with restrained volumes, marked by a subtle bipartition of color between dark zones and patinated reddish-brown surfaces. The half-closed, ringed, and slightly protruding eyes contribute to an introspective, almost meditative overall expression. The straight, elongated nose, the mouth discreetly ajar, and the sober treatment of the reliefs convey a search for formal restraint rather than overt expressiveness.

The information visible on the attached documentation confirms the belonging of this type of mask to the anthropomorphic sphere of the Ngbandi, with known parallels in reference collections. Comparable specimens notably appear in corpora studied by Raoul Lehuard, Jacques Kerchache, as well as in major exhibitions devoted to the arts of the Ubangi and the northern Congo, notably Ubangi, Art and Cultures from the African Heartland and Masks in Congo. These sources emphasize the extremely limited nature of these productions, often linked to ritual uses with restricted scope and to a locally very controlled transmission (see the last image).

Provenance

This mask comes from an Italian family, who collected it in situ in the Democratic Republic of the Congo around the third quarter of the 20th century (the 1950s–1970s). This period corresponds to a historically documented phase of Italian presence in Central Africa, notably in the fields of civil engineering, infrastructure works, technical cooperation, and projects related to transportation networks and hydraulics, often in collaboration with Belgian or international companies active in Congo after independence.

This mask was acquired in that context, directly from the local populations, at a time when some ritual objects still circulated outside the strictly initiatory framework, before the gradual scarcity of these objects in the field from the 1970s onward.

Due to its quality of sculpture, its old patina, its credible provenance, and its grounding in an extremely rare stylistic corpus, this Ngbandi mask is a piece of the highest order, appealing to both a discerning collector and an institution attentive to marginal yet fundamental productions of Central African art.

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