Lot 172 Dα

Léon de Sousberghe (in "l’Art Pende", Gembloux, 1958, pp.42-43) records a number of interpretations given by informants for the strange asymmetrical appearance of these Pende mbangu masks. They are said to represent the epileptic fallen into the fire, and thus blackened on half of the face; the numerous small, pierced holes seen in the black eyelid of the present lot are scars from smallpox; the mask represents a man on whom the witch doctors have cast a bad spell. Zoe S. Strother ("Pende", Milan, 2008, p.29) cautions against too literal an interpretation explaining that the masks are rather composites of various misfortunes, sickness and disability, that can befall a victim. The black and white colours are symbolic, the white being associated with healing and the black with sorcery and illness; the deformed features all falling on the black side of the mask.