A Mbunda Sachihongo Mask...

Description

A Mbunda Sachihongo Mask
Angola/Zambia, c. late 19th to early 20th century

This powerful Sachihongo mask, the most important male spirit mask of the Mbunda, is carved with commanding features and coated in a slightly glossy red-brown pigment. The large, concave eye sockets lend depth and intensity to the gaze from the almond-shaped eyeholes, while the cheeks droop to the chin, suggesting age and ancestral gravity. The open mouth exposes the teeth in a grimacing expression. Concentric grooves outline the arched brows, and a lateral crest runs across the crown, further dramatizing the mask's profile. In good condition, red-brown pigment is flaked and scuffed, high points are rubbed. With a stand.

Sachihongo is considered the embodiment of virile power, authority, and ancestral protection among the Mbunda. His appearance at boys' initiations and other occasions signaled the presence of ancestral spirits and/or an old diviner and served to instruct the boys in morality and social cohesion, as well as entertain the villagers upon the boys return from the secluded initiation camp. The vigorous carving of this example - with its dramatic modeling of the cheeks and brows - emphasizes both the mask's aesthetic presence and its ritual potency. The red-brown pigment is characteristic of masks from Angola and Zambia, symbolizing life-force, vigor, and the ancestral realm.

Provenance:
Panzani Tribal Gallery (Demba Sow), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
The New York Armory Tribal and Textile Arts Show, The 69th Regiment Armory, New York, NY, 2009

Published online at the African Heritage Documentation and Research Centre, AHDRC# 012077

Height: 13 inches

Estimate: $7,000 - $9,000.

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