Minneapolis Institute of Art
Helmet mask
Luba artistLinkedCulture matchlcp-445b2bfc8aa1
- Date
- 19th century
- Medium
- Wood, pigments
- Culture
- Luba
- Department
- Arts of Global Africa
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Object ID
- 1235
This large mask, carved from a single piece of lightweight wood and colored black, white, and red, fit over a dancer’s head like a helmet. No information on its ceremonial usage was recorded when the mask was collected in the Democratic Republic of Congo, sometime in the early 1900s. The elaborate hairdo—three braids on either side of the face and a vertical, looped braid in back—is topped by a carved diadem, a headband-like crown of beaded raffia, characteristic of Luba chieftains. Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Gift of Stephen, Peter, and Michael Pflaum in memory of their grandfather Arther G. Cohen
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