Mufu Mukinka - Salampasu - R.D. Congo

In this mask, the Lumangu “hairline” is a flat, raised strip with traces of white pigment; below, the forehead is covered by a sheet of copper and the rest of the face with nailed copper plates; the forehead is very rounded above large trapezoidal eyes, separated by a rounded triangular nose ending in a slightly upward slope where the holes can be seen; below is a rectangular mouth, open to reveal some schematic, pointed teeth with traces of white pigment; the face ends in a flat-cut chin from which a long fiber braid emerges, with a basketry ball at the end, which symbolizes the beard; the ears, schematic, are two small wooden cylinders, protruding and pierced in the center, located on the upper outer edge of the eyes; the hair is made of basketry balls and behind the mask there is a mesh of fiber cords. This mask was purchased from Kibabi, of Polish origin, married to a Belgian woman, Mme. Berthe Hartert (who sold several masks to the Barbier-Mueller collection) and a settler in the Congo (Zaire) until after independence. It belonged to the collection he assembled during his travels through the Congo during his stay there and was therefore collected before 1961.

Provenance: Berthe Hartert collection
Argiles collection, Barcelona