Chokwe mask - Chokwe - DR Congo (No reserve price)

An oval hollow Chokwe mask, a wide mouth with sculpted teeth beneath a slender nose, eyes drilled like coffee beans, surrounded by high eyebrows, scarification marks all over the face, on the forehead the famous Chokwe symbol, a geometric motif haircut or headband highlighted with raffia attached to the edge of the mask; surface color from dark brown to light brown with some traces of abrasion.

Mask sold with stand

Its name - Pwo, "the woman" is enough to express the meaning of this mask in the Chokwe country. In the framework of the initiation of young boys, the Pwo master embodies the link between the new age group and a feminine ancestor, and more broadly the elementary relations between the village community and the chiefs, the ancestors and the guiding spirits (Wastiau, Chokwe, 2006, p 44-45)

The beauty it exalts symbolises the fundamental role played by women in the matrilineal Chokwe society, inherited from the temporal and spiritual power once held by the ruling women of the ancient Ucockwe (homeland)

Mask purchased at the Jaenicke- Njoya GmbH gallery in Berlin