Yela / Kela Ancestor Mongo Mask, Congo #645

$ 1,800.00 $ 3,600.00
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  • Kela Ancestor Mongo Mask, Congo #645
  • A very rare mask of the Kela People of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • It represents the Ancestor Mongo.
  • The Kela are neighbors of the Mbole and the Yela and they join their Lilwa Secret Society.
  • The mask is covered with a crusty patina in the red and white grooves. Kela Ceremonial Objects have a strong geometric structure, recognizable by their two-tone bands. 
  • Material: wood, pigment, kaolin, beads.
  • This type of mask is sometimes presented as "Kela", as "Kela - Yela" or as "Mongo - Kela" (as the superb mask of the collection Reynold C. Kerr).
  • As Daniel Biebuyck said in "African Arts" in 1976, this forest area of Eastern Congo is very complex to analyze culturally, with many Ethnic Groups cohabiting and interacting in one way or another. The Kela are located near the Tshuapa River, in the area of Ikela, in the South from the Mbole People, with whom the Kela are geographically and culturally closely related.
  • As for the Kela that some describe as a sub-tribe of Bambole, speaking a Bantu language called "Kela Yela", a whorship the Origin of the Kela People as Descendants of the Great Ancestor Mongo (memory "The Tetela peoples with Efomy") and of course the famous statuette of Willy Mestach (described as "extremely rare statuette from the Kela, a Mongo group")
  • Measurements: 25×17×8 cm
  • Condition: Good
  • Not sold with stand
  • Provenance: Ex collection of the well known Andrzej von Staranburg Niedenthal - London - UK. 
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