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Bwoom type mask

Kuba

Artwork Details

Bwoom type mask
circa 1890-1910
Kuba
wood and paint
12 15/16 x 14 1/16 x 17 7/8 in. (33.0 x 35.8 x 45.5 cm)
Gift of Al and Margaret Coudron
1982/2.52

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Description

One published account of the Kuba traditon asserts that Mboom was not the brother of Mwaash a mbooy but a person of modest standing scarcely worthy of being embodied by the king. According to this account, a 19th-century Kuba king, Miko mi mbul (ca. 1800-1835) was entranced by the Mboom dancer's costume and dance and wanted to imitate him. Hence the king commissioned a similar mask but used leather covered with beads instead of wood.

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