Northern Bayaka

This is a Ndemba mask made by the Tundansi (initiates in seclusion). The face,
white on the forehead, eyes and cheeks, is bordered by a wide protruding band painted in red and white stripes;
the eyebrows and a line across the forehead are painted red; the eyes, protruding and almond-shaped, within deep sockets, have pupils formed by mirrors edged in black. The cheeks also have two vertical red stripes each; the aquiline nose has a central ridge and nostrils painted black. The cheeks also have two vertical red stripes each; the aquiline nose has the central ridge and nostrils painted in black; below the cheeks, the chin, in a kind of beard, is painted black, framing a semicircular mouth, with the curved part facing downwards, inside which, painted in red, black teeth are outlined. The head is topped by a superstructure formed by a vertical, black, elongated and pointed cone, topped by a tuft of hair, decorated with red stripes edged with white and a network of white stripes forming small diamonds, which cross three horizontal discs
of decreasing diameter. The entire mask is wrapped in a wide raffia collar from which hangs, below the mouth, a protective charm (medicine), consisting of a bundle of sticks.

Provenance: Berthe Hartert Collection
Argiles Collection, Barcelona