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Mask (ndeemba)
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This Mask (Ndeemba) has been featured prominently in the African galleries since making its debut at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1962. Dated to the 1900s, the object is part of a group of eight masks that appear at the end of the circumcision and puberty ritual (n-khanda) for Yaka boys. It would have marked the new status of the boys who became men and commemorated their re-entry into the village. Affirming age-long tradition, such masks are worn by the master of the initiation or by the newly initiated himself.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineMask (ndeemba), early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yaka-style carver. Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton; overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1969.8
