Gambanda or Kambanda Female Mask
Female Mask (Gambanda or Kambanda)
Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.
Realized in typical Central Pende style, this mask is believed to represent gambanda, the chief’s wife. In light of Pende theories about gender and physiognomy, the mask is an ideal expression of a woman’s facial features and thus reflects her calm, obedient, peaceful, and self-controlled demeanor. The intricate hairstyle consisting of hundreds of miniature twists imitates a once fashionable hairdo. Pende sculptors inherited their position and often worked on the outskirts of the village so that few could see them at work.
Catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art as “Female Mask (Gambanda or Kambanda)”, dated early 1900s. 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 | Pende |
|---|---|
| Country | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Common name | Female Mask (Gambanda or Kambanda) |
| Subject depicted | Ancestor or named individual |
| Materials | Wood, plant fiber, and colorant |
| Dimensions | Overall: 27 x 22 x 28.5 cm (10 5/8 x 8 11/16 x 11 1/4 in.) |
Provenance
Field-collected by Belgian territorial administrator, Maurice Matton, in the Bandundu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then still Belgian Congo) (1934)
Ex collection Annie and Jean-Pierre Jernander, Brussels, Belgium (?–1996)
(Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, France, lot 29, June 29, 1996, sold to private collection) (June 29, 1996)
Private collection (1996–2008)
(Sotheby's, Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (2008)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2008–)
| Collection | Cleveland Museum of Art |
|---|---|
| Accession number | 2008.150 |
Source
https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.150
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.