Tribal Art

Songola Mask (N° 16466)

Cubist geometry for this Songola mask consisting of a flat face arrangement. Its structure is in the form of an inverted triangle front whose edge extends from a slightly curved angle. The latter indicates a nose joining the oblique lying base, the hollowed-out center of which evokes a mouth or even a snout. Reduced to the essentials, the circular openings of the eyes are simply dug into this mask coated with a thick layer of kaolin. Mixed by alliance with the Lega, Ngengele and Zimba, the Songola are ruled by the elders of the bloodlions. They borrowed from the Luba and Songye the Luhuna institution composed of dignitaries and that of the Bwami by their lega wives. The Songola live hunting and fishing, they engage in sculpture although the objects associated with the cult of Bwami come from the Lega. Among their reduced statuary, the figures of ancestors of the Nsubi society evoke those of the Mbole, other sculptures were kept in baskets as in the Lega. Masks such as our copy were used during Nsindi initiation rites.