Ndeemba Mask
Mask (ndeemba)
Attribution follows a published museum catalogue or peer-reviewed scholarship. Object is held in a public collection under a published accession number.
This Mask (Ndeemba) has been featured prominently in the African galleries since making its debut at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1962. Dated to the 1900s, the object is part of a group of eight masks that appear at the end of the circumcision and puberty ritual (n-khanda) for Yaka boys. It would have marked the new status of the boys who became men and commemorated their re-entry into the village. Affirming age-long tradition, such masks are worn by the master of the initiation or by the newly initiated himself.
Catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art as “Mask (ndeemba)”, 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 | Yaka |
|---|---|
| Country | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Common name | Mask (ndeemba) |
| Materials | Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton |
| Dimensions | Overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.) |
Provenance
Robert Stolper, New York (1962)
Katherine C. White (Reswick), [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art (1969)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1969-)
| Collection | Cleveland Museum of Art |
|---|---|
| Accession number | 1969.8 |
Source
https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.8
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.