Mwaash A-Mbooy Soil Mask

Implemented in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kasaï Southern Africa, Kuba have always shown through their art the meaning of the monarchical institution. The monarch, invested with supernatural powers, was the guarantor of the fertility of fields and women. To be enthroned king he had to commit incest with his sister, an act strictly forbidden in society, but inherent in the sacred nature of her power that prohibited her from any relationship outside the family.

In addition to about twenty different masks the Kuba manufacture numerous ornamental or utilitarian objects such as cups, stools, pipes, drums, reclining heads, etc., where the utilitarian function is subordinated to aesthetic function.

The mask Mwaash a-Mbooy or Moshambwooy, represents Ngaady a mwaashWoot's sister and wife, ancestor of the Bushongo of those who come from the great family KubaThey were called. Bushongo until the Luba gave them the name of KubaIt's a female mask with no eyes. It's the most representative mask of the Kuba people. It presents a beautiful polychrome and a rich ornamentation: leather, cauris, ceramic pearls. Its red color represents bleeding and wealth, white mourning and religious purity and blue is the symbol of a high social level.

This figure stands out for its polychrome of red triangular figures, framed in black, on a white background. Profusion of cauris on the headdress and eyebrows and nose formed by several parallel rows of ceramic beads.