MC1780 Puissant masque singe SOKO MUTU HEMBA Chimpanzee Large Mask masque which is useful to the

which is useful to the Bwami officers

DIMENSIONS: Height 30 cm (wood)

- In search of the meaning of Bwami

the most similar piece I could find is in "The Menil Collection

MC1780 Puissant masque singe SOKO MUTU HEMBA Chimpanzee Large Mask masque which is useful to theEnglish description below CONGO DRC HEMBA Large Zoomorphic Monkey (Chimpanzee) Mask Local names: Mwisi Gwa Soo and Soko Mutu. This mask expresses in the "smile" of the oversized mouth, the grimacing features of the chimpanzee, considered by the Hemba as "a ferocious animal, highly agnostic, even predatory of humans" (Blakely in African Arts, vol. 21, no. 1, 1987, p. 32). It appeared at funerals, in order to illustrate a chaotic afterlife opposing the