Anthropomorphic mask - Ndaaka – Ituri - DR Congo

Anthropomorphic mask – Ndaaka – Ituri – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa), Ituri region
Culture / Ethnicity: Ndaaka
Material: Sculpted wood and pigments
Support: Work supplied with its original presentation base, custom-made.

- An exclusive, richly illustrated catalog accompanies the Wirtz Collection, with a detailed note dedicated to each of the works presented. (available on request)

- Unpublished: A dated and signed composition, titled After the Wirtz Collection, offering a pictorial evocation of the interior of the collection as it might have been represented in 1965.

Provenance

Former private collection of a member of the Wirtz family, Antwerp (Belgium), a family historically active in the travel sector.

According to information transmitted directly by her heir, this object was brought back from the Congo in the 1960s and then kept within the family.

The family collection was carefully preserved and displayed in a room fully dedicated to it, designed in the spirit of a private cabinet of curiosities, where the works were gathered and showcased in an environment specially devoted to their presentation.

Acquired directly from the heir, with whom this sale is conducted in collaboration.

Description & Study of the Work

Anthropomorphic facial mask attributed to the Ndaaka, a people established in the forested region of Ituri, in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ndaaka masked traditions are notably documented within male initiation rites. Archives of the National Museum of African Art thus preserve a substantial photographic collection taken near Epulu, showing Ndaaka initiation ceremonies in which songs, dances, and masked figures participated in the passage of young men to adulthood.

This example possesses a remarkable force of simplicity. The oval face is constructed from a few essential shapes, perfectly legible: two large circular eyes drilled, a long central ridge descending from the forehead, a mouth reduced to a fine horizontal incision, and a wide dark motif occupying the chin.

The upper part of the face is particularly striking. Two dark lines converge from the top of the forehead to form a powerful V-shaped structure, extended by a slender median ridge. This ridge separates the two large eyes circled with light pigments, whose round openings give the overall figure a fixed and extraordinarily intense gaze.

The polychromy, today partly softened by surface wear, rests on a combination of brown-red, black, and whitish tones. The various flat areas organize the face almost like a geometric composition, while the wood material and pigment losses add depth and character to the whole.

The power of this work precisely lies in this economy of means: a few volumes, a few color fields, and two openings are enough to create an expression of astonishing presence. The mask appears simultaneously calm, vigilant, and enigmatic, with a frontal stance that gives it an almost emblematic dimension.

Visible perforations around the circumference bear witness to the former system used to attach the sculpted part to other elements of the costume or adornment during its use.

Ndaaka masks remain less widely represented and studied than several major Congolese sculptural traditions, which today contributes to the particular interest shown in these Ituri works. The sources devoted to this production particularly emphasize their formal simplicity and the originality of their painted decors.

A sober but intensely expressive work, whose facial geometry, frontal gaze, and ancient patina confer a singular and immediately captivating presence.