拍品專文
Songye masks have long been admired by collectors of African art and Cubist paintings, but we cannot remember how long it is since such a fine example has been offered at auction. The striations covering almost the entire surface of this magnificent mask accentuate the pronounced concave and convex forms with which it is conceived, by subtle changes of rhythm - the alternating diagonal bands create a tension about the border. In fact we have been unable to find a parallel to match our mask in its subtlety amongst the corpus of published examples of female kifwebe. Moreover, the striations are finer than those on the mask sold by H.Vignier in 1921 to the University Museum, Philadelphia (Wardwell, 1986, p.122, no.58), and the Webster Plass mask in the Museum of Mankind (acquired 1956, Hersak, 1985, p.111, pl.68).
The term kifwebe simply means "mask" to the Songye, but has long been used to refer exclusively to this type of mask by collectors, dealers and acedemics. The cult which uses the kifwebe had begun about the turn of this century, when its function was connected with the "social control of women and children" (Wardwell quoting Merriam, Wardwell, 1986, p.123). Mestach (1985) divides the 'classical' style of kifwebe mask into three categories, the male (kilume) usually with a high crest, the female (kikashi) with a very low crest if any, and the largest and most powerful (kia ndoshi). The present mask is clearly of the second type, the kikashi, indicated by the lack of crest and the finely grooved and whitened surface contrasting with the black of the eyes and the line down the centre of the forehead - features which appear to be universal to the female kifwebe. However, we notice a great diversity in the forms of the mouth: that on the present mask is more naturalistic than those on the Vignier mask (a figure-of-eight within a projecting rectangle), or the Webster Plass example (a pierced star-shape within a rectangle). The present mask has a mouth more often found in the figure sculpture, but the closest parallel is that on a Mestach mask (Mestach, 1985, p.149).
The female kifwebe is much more rare in museums and private collections than the more familiar male mask. With its more dramatic and exaggerated forms it is the male mask that has been subject to widescale reproduction in recent decades for the art market.
The term kifwebe simply means "mask" to the Songye, but has long been used to refer exclusively to this type of mask by collectors, dealers and acedemics. The cult which uses the kifwebe had begun about the turn of this century, when its function was connected with the "social control of women and children" (Wardwell quoting Merriam, Wardwell, 1986, p.123). Mestach (1985) divides the 'classical' style of kifwebe mask into three categories, the male (kilume) usually with a high crest, the female (kikashi) with a very low crest if any, and the largest and most powerful (kia ndoshi). The present mask is clearly of the second type, the kikashi, indicated by the lack of crest and the finely grooved and whitened surface contrasting with the black of the eyes and the line down the centre of the forehead - features which appear to be universal to the female kifwebe. However, we notice a great diversity in the forms of the mouth: that on the present mask is more naturalistic than those on the Vignier mask (a figure-of-eight within a projecting rectangle), or the Webster Plass example (a pierced star-shape within a rectangle). The present mask has a mouth more often found in the figure sculpture, but the closest parallel is that on a Mestach mask (Mestach, 1985, p.149).
The female kifwebe is much more rare in museums and private collections than the more familiar male mask. With its more dramatic and exaggerated forms it is the male mask that has been subject to widescale reproduction in recent decades for the art market.