Bwoom Mask
Mask (Bwoom)
Attribution: Museum-publishedProvenance: Museum accession
Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.
Among the Bushoong, the central Kuba group, the mask known as bwoom—most typically identified as the head of a hunter-gatherer—forms a triad with a female mask and another male mask. All three are protagonists in the reenactment of the foundation of the Kuba kingdom. Outside the capital, however, bwoom appears in different non-royal contexts, such as the men’s initiation society.
Catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art as “Mask (Bwoom)”, dated mid- to late 1800s. Harvested from the museum’s open-access record; every field below is copied from that record and none of it has been inferred.
Record
| People / culture | Kuba |
|---|---|
| Country | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Common name | Mask (Bwoom) |
| Materials | Wood and paint |
| Dimensions | Overall: 43.3 x 31.2 x 28.3 cm (17 1/16 x 12 5/16 x 11 1/8 in.) |
Provenance
(Charles Ratton Gallery, Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1935)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1935–)
| Collection | Cleveland Museum of Art |
|---|---|
| Accession number | 1935.304 |
Source
Cleveland Museum of Art, Mask (Bwoom), accession 1935.304. https://clevelandart.org/art/1935.304
https://clevelandart.org/art/1935.304
This record is a catalogue entry, not an appraisal, valuation or legal determination. Nothing here should be read as evidence that an object was lawfully acquired or exported.