18- A highly important Tchokwe Mask, Mwana Pwo, Angola, Region of Southern Lunda, Area of Cucumbi, probably the village of Shamulamba XIXth Cent. Height : 32,5 cm. Provenance : Gallery group, Bruxelles en 1992 Private Belgium collection Published/exhibited : “Face Of The Spirits” - Musée D’ethnografie, Anvers, 1993, Pag.83. - Museum Of African Art, New York, 1994. - National Museum Of Art, Washington Dc. 1994. P.83 - The Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston 1994-1995. “Fleuve Congo”, - Musée Du Quai Branly, Paris, 2010 P.349 F.233. - L’express, «Fleuve Congo» Musée Du Quai Branly, P. 5, F.5 - “Thinkings With Things”, Esther Pastztory (Prof.univ.Columbia, N.Y.), 2005. P.65, F.6.4 Complete Certificate from Madame Marie-Louise Bastin, dated 16-09-1992. Pwo masks represent an idealised young and beautiful woman. It combines the evocation of the feminine ideal and the representation of an ancestor ensuring fertility. Its dancer would travel from village to village, instructing women how to move gracefully. As in all African art, every feature has a particular meaning. For example; the scarifications on the forehead represent Nzambi, the Tchokwe supreme being, whilst the scarifications on its cheeks symbolise the rising and setting sun. Stylistically, this extraordinary mask belongs to a small group of four masks emanating from the Region of Cucumbi, village of Shamulamba. They share the same carved coiffure divided in panels. This group includes masks illustrated in : - Sculptures angolaises, memorial de cultures, 1994, n. 163 ( with identical scarifications); - Art et mythology, figures Tchokwe, Dapper foundation, 1989, p. 34.35; - Robbins and Nooter, African art in American collection, 1989, n.1013 (in the university of Iowa collections and also with identical scarifications)
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