Mask (munyangi or kindjinga) (before 1958): Art, History and Details

Mask (munyangi or kindjinga) (before 1958) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Kiyova of Luaya Ndambo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Pende people).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Carved by Kiyova of Luaya-Ndambo, this is an iconic example of a central African mask. With bold sculpted lines, abstracted facial features, and vivid red and white pigment framed by fur and fiber, this mask was likely not danced. This does not make it “inauthentic”; to the contrary, the best masks were often diverted directly to the market where they could be sold to Pende or foreign consumers. Pende mask makers—and their audiences—craved innovation, leading artists to constantly create new mask genres and retire passé models.

Object facts

• Title: Mask (munyangi or kindjinga)
• Date: before 1958
• Creator attribution: Kiyova of Luaya Ndambo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Pende people)
• Culture: Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pende style
• Type: Mask
• Technique: wood, pigment, fabric, fiber, ram's hair
• Dimensions: 25 x 20 x 25 cm (9 13/16 x 7 7/8 x 9 13/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 2025.136

A detail from the museum

This mask is equipped with a knotted rope threaded through the teeth, which a masker would have bit down on to hold the mask against his forehead.

Collection credit

Sundry Art - Miscellaneous Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.