Songye Panel, Drc

Panel presenting a "Kifwebe" mask. It is decorated with chevrons and parallel lines. This kind of panel, like the "shields" of the same style, have a function of rank and symbolic representation during initiations. The “shields” and panels would express a kind of synthesis of the values of the great masks of the Bwadi Ka Kifwebe society.
The sculpture and fine and delicate.
Wood, pigments, old illegible label on the back, splits, some xylophage holes.
First half of the 20th century.
Provenance: -Ex Belgian collection.
- Collected in situ by Gilles Tordeus, a former colonial agent posted in the Belgian Congo before 1960.
H: 46 cm
sold with its base