Exhibition Guide

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Female Ancestor Mask (Ngaady Mwaash)

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Hausa men at indigo dye pits, Kano, Nigeria. Photograph by Eliot Elisofon, 1959. EEPA EENG 6851 Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution

Art Object Info

Cowrie shells, long a symbol of wealth and status in the Kuba Kingdom, mark the masks most closely associated with the royal court. Three such artworks—Mukenga, Ngaady Mwaash, and Bwoom—are shown on this platform. Every year, in almost every community, these three masks are worn by dancers who dramatize the mythic origin stories of the kingdom. In these masquerades, Woot (Mukenga), the mythical founder of Kuba, successfully fights a commoner (Bwoom) to win the affection of Mweel (Ngaady Mwaash), a woman who becomes his wife.

Founded in 1625, the Kuba Kingdom is a multi-ethnic society where power was historically concentrated in the hands of one ethnic group: the Bushoong. The Bushoong claim descent from Woot and Mweel, and the Kuba royal court has long promoted the widespread use of these masks throughout the kingdom as a savvy political strategy to promote Bushoong supremacy.

 

Medium:
Wood, cloth, copper alloy tacks, plant fibers, cowrie shells, glass beads, paint
Size:
H: 13.5'
W: 9.1'
D: 11.8'
Date:
Late 19th–Early 20th Century
Gift of Alan Wurtzburger BMA 1954.145.77

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Art Object Info

Cowrie shells, long a symbol of wealth and status in the Kuba Kingdom, mark the masks most closely associated with the royal court. Three such artworks—Mukenga, Ngaady Mwaash, and Bwoom—are shown on this platform. Every year, in almost every community, these three masks are worn by dancers who dramatize the mythic origin stories of the kingdom. In these masquerades, Woot (Mukenga), the mythical founder of Kuba, successfully fights a commoner (Bwoom) to win the affection of Mweel (Ngaady Mwaash), a woman who becomes his wife.

Founded in 1625, the Kuba Kingdom is a multi-ethnic society where power was historically concentrated in the hands of one ethnic group: the Bushoong. The Bushoong claim descent from Woot and Mweel, and the Kuba royal court has long promoted the widespread use of these masks throughout the kingdom as a savvy political strategy to promote Bushoong supremacy.

 

Medium:
Wood, cloth, copper alloy tacks, plant fibers, cowrie shells, glass beads, paint
Size:
L: 11.8'
W: 9.1'
H: 13.5'
Date:
Late 19th–Early 20th Century
Gift of Alan Wurtzburger BMA 1954.145.77