An Important Salampasu Mask...

Description

An Important Salampasu Mask
Democratic Republic of Congo, c. early 20th century

Wood, the bulging forehead covered with alternating copper strips and paint in a zigzag stairstep pattern, chevrons on cheeks, and plaited copper strips on nose and jaw. A braided vegetal fiber and woven cane ball are suspended from a hole in the pointed chin. It has a headdress of chicken feathers and fiber netting. In very good condition, a hole through each temple (function not known), and smaller holes along the perimeter for attachments.

Regarded as one of the most important masks of its type, this has been exhibited and published in the following prestigious museum shows and books:
Frank Herreman and Costa Petrides,editors, Faces of the Spirits: Masks from the Zaire Basin, Martial and Snoeck, Antwerp, 1995, catalog #50. Exhibited at the Ethnographic Museum, Antwerp, and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1993
Luc De Heusch eta al, Utotombo: Kunst uit Zwart-Afrika in Belgisch Prive-Bezit. Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, 1988, page 104, no. XXXVI.
Gerald Berjonneau and Jean-Louis Sonnery, Rediscovered Masterpieces of African Art, Art 135, Boulogne, 1987, page 179, plate 147.

Provenance:
A Private Collection, New York, NY
Purchased in 1997 from Bernard de Grunne, Brussels
Ex collection Badouin de Grunne, Brussels

Height: 33 inches overall

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