Mask Mbuya - Kiwoyo-Muyombo Pende - DR Congo

Rare Mbuya Kiwoyo-Muyombo mask – Pende – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa), Kwilu-Kasaï region
Culture / Ethnicity: Pende
Material: Carved wood, pigments and plant fibers
Support: Work provided with its original presentation pedestal, custom-made.

Provenance

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

According to information directly conveyed by his heir, this object would have been brought from the Congo in the 1960s, then kept within the family.

The family collection was carefully preserved and presented in a room entirely dedicated, arranged in the spirit of a private cabinet of curiosity, where the works were gathered and enhanced in an environment specially devoted to their display.

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

Unpublished: Dated and signed composition, titled After the Wirtz collection, offering a pictorial evocation of the interior of the collection as it might have been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.

Description & Study of the Work

Rare anthropomorphic mask Mbuya Kiwoyo-Muyombo, attributed to the Pende of the Kwilu-Kasaï region.

The Kiwoyo-Muyombo belongs to one of the major groups of Mbuya masks in the Pende tradition. Examples kept at the Brooklyn Museum are specifically designated as Kiwoyo-Muyombo long-beard masks, while an example at the Princeton University Art Museum combines wood, raffia, pigments and coloring agents.

These masks are associated with the world of male initiation and the masquerades accompanying the exit of young initiates. A museum source dedicated to the Kiwoyo-Muyombo type explicitly links it to the ceremonies of the Mukanda society.

This instance possesses an exceptional force through its total absence of sentimentality. Nothing here seeks decorative perfection: the face is cut with frankness, the volumes are tense, the expression is strained and the materiality deliberately present.

The powerful forehead is dominated by a high carved ridge, traversed by deep oblique striations forming a chevron rhythm. Its spectacular projection gives the mask an immediately recognizable silhouette and strongly emphasizes its profile.

The face itself has an extraordinarily human expression. The black, deeply arched eyebrows overlook polychrome eyes that are slightly drooping, giving the character a heavy, anxious, and almost feral gaze. The short, projecting nose and the marks painted on the cheeks and the slightly open mouth extend this tension.

The conservation of the substantial plant fibers surrounding the face is one of the major attractions of the piece. This irregular mass of raffia restores to the mask an essential part of its original presence: it is no longer just a carved face in isolation, but a genuine ensemble meant to be seen in motion. The Kiwoyo-Muyombo masks kept in the Brooklyn Museum collections also combine sculpture, fibers and raffia.

The polychromy is particularly expressive: earthy tones, deep black, white and touches of blue highlight the eyes, the scarifications, the mouth, as well as the large geometric decoration of the lower part. The pigments never seek to obscure the wood; they accompany the traces of carving and the matter of the object.

irregularities of carving, visible marks of woodwork, abrasions and surface variations give the whole its force, which decorative productions of the contemporary world often try to imitate without ever achieving.

The piece preserves a true brutal plasticity: a direct sculpture, without softness, where the power of the figure prevails over perfect finishing. Seen in profile, this energy becomes even more evident: monumental crest, projecting forehead, nose and mouth follow one another in an almost aggressive silhouette.

A Pende mask of very great presence, remarkable, nerve-ridden and deeply expressive, whose preserved fiber headdress, polychromy, carving vigor and almost ferocious character remarkably convey the universe of the great Mbuya masquerades.