Kuba
Kasai region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central Africa
Female Face Mask (Ngady Mwaash)
INV-1061
Kuba
Kasai region, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central AfricaLate 19th-mid 20th century
Female Face Mask (Ngady Mwaash)
Kuba Kasai region, Democratic Republic of the Congo Central Africa →kuba (democratic republic of congo styleArts of AfricaCentral Africaafrican Artmasksarts of Africa
Date
Late 19th-mid 20th century
Medium
Wood, pigment, glass beads, cowrie shells, fabric, and thread
Dimensions
31.8 × 20.6 × 20.5 cm (12 1/2 × 8 1/8 × 10 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by the American Hospital Supply Corp., the Evanston Associates of the Woman's Board in honor of Wilbur Tuggle, Deborah Stokes and Jeffrey Hammer, William E. Hartmann, Charles A. Meyer, D. Daniel Michel, and Claire B. Zeisler; African and Amerindian Art Purchase Fund
The ngady mwaash mask honors the role of women in Kuba life. It portrays a woman but, like other masks in Africa, is performed by a man. The most popular appearance of ngady mwaash is in a pantomime about the kingdom’s creation: ngady mwaash dances together with the mooshamb-wooy mask, representing the king (who is both her brother and her husband), and the bwoom mask [See 1982.1506].
Also notable
Works in the same vein
