Munyangi mask - Oost Pende - Pende - DR Congo

Excellent patina from use; good age.

The Eastern Pende or Bapende are known in African art for their very graphic traditional masks. This Munyangi African mask, with its pointed faces crowned by horns, is no exception. The level of stylization is very high. In Pende culture, the masks are numerous and varied. They participate in ceremonies that are sometimes festive, sometimes tied to initiations, notably those of the transition to adulthood, mukanda, at the end of which the boys are circumcised and become adult men.