A «Mwana Pwo» Mask

A «Mwana Pwo» Mask
wood, fibers and metal
It has metallic rings in both ears, a mask representing the ideal of female beauty, used by professional dancers in various types of ceremonies
Angolan - Tshokwe
20th C. (mid)
faults and defects
purchased in Dundo, Lunda-Norte, in 1965
Dimensões (altura x comprimento x largura) - 17 cm
Notes: Provenance: Collection of Engineer Elísio Romariz dos Santos Silva

Figs. 10 and 11 in the notes printed "A Escultura Tribal dos Povos Banto" updated version, from 1995, of the work with the title "A Escultura Negro-Africana Vista à Luz da Filosofia Banta", which the author presented in 1971, for the XXII Floral Games of Huambo Town Hall (former Nova Lisboa) - Angola, pp. 14-15. Original work available at http://memoria-
africa.ua.pt/Library/ShowImage.aspx?q=/bchuambo/bchuambo-026&p=10, consulted on March 16, 2023 at 11:16.
Item number 3, mentioned in the notebook of the collector «Angola - Arte Negra, Relação e descrição das peças», identified in it as «Máscara Muana Puo»: "Tattoos: - on the forehead and chin: «Mupila» (dash); - on the cheek: «Misoji (tears), «Lumba» (wheels) and cruciform marks; - on the chin and next to the lips: «Mipila» (singular «Mupila»); - on the nose: «Cangongo». Separating the "trilobed" hairstyle from the forehead is a row of 9 round brass studs. Two hoops to make earrings. [...] [...] Purchased on the outskirts of Dundo - Lunda, in June 1965, after a long week of talks and negotiations [...] and a new mask that had been offered to me by the Dundo Museum and executed by its private sculptors". The hairstyle depicted on the mask may be the "Kalarika" hairstyle, which is a Tshokwe hairstyle worn by women - vd. SANTOS, Eduardo dos - "Sobre a «Medicina» e a Magia dos Quiocos". In "Estudos, Ensaios e Documentos nº 80". Lisbon: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1960, p. 130, fig. 124-125.
For the same type of mask vd. REDINHA, José - "Album Etnográfico Portugal-Angola". Luanda: C.I.T.A, 1971, p. 91 (as "Muana-Mpuo"); JORDÁN, Manuel - "Os Tshokwe e Povos Aparentados". In "Na presença dos Espíritos - Arte Africana do Museu Nacional de Etnologia, Lisboa". New York: Museum for African Art, Snoeck-Ducaju, 2000, pp. 100-102, cat. 73-75; BASTIN, Marie-Louise. "La sculpture Tshokwe”. Arcueil: Alain et Françoise Chaffin, 1982, pp. 100-103, figs. 40-45 (as "Masque Pwo"/"Pwo"); The catalog "Escultura Angolana - Memorial de Culturas". Lisboa: Museu Nacional de Etnologia - Sociedade Lisboa 94, 1994, pp. 143-144, nº 162-164; LIMA, Mesquitela de - "Os Akixi (Mascarados) do Nordeste de Angola". Lisboa: Companhia de Diamantes de Angola - Serviços Culturais Dundo - Lunda - Angola - Museu do Dundo, 1967, pp. 151 and 153, nºs 11-15 (as "Mukixi wa Pwó"); FELIX, Marc Leo. - "100 Peoples of Zaire and Their Sculpture: The Handbook”. Brussels: Zaire Basin Art History Research Foundation, 1987, p. 183, fig. 15; the auction
catalogue held on February 1, 2023 at Lempertz "Art of Arfrica, the Pacific and the Americas". Brussels: Lempertz, 2023, lote 42; and https://www.metmuseum.org/art/ collection/search/319264?ft=Pwo&offset=0&amp ;rpp=40&pos=1, consulted on March 14, 2023 at 15:37