page_title: Kuba masquerade
hierarchical_section_title: Kuba masquerade
caption_attribution_description: English: Dance mask with polychrome geometric facial decoration. Round recessed eyes with cone shaped centers surrounded by holes for seeing out by wearer. Headdress covered by raffia cloth with painted designs. Attached wooden ears. The fragile raffia material has been stabilized. The mask's wood is in fair condition. Surfaces are abraded throughout. English: This mask may have represented a wise older man at boys' initiations. One of the principal Kuba dance masks is called pwoom itok. The chief identifying characteristic is the shape of the eyes, whose centers are cones surrounded by holes through which the wearer sees. Like many Kuba types of masks, pwoom itok is extensively polychromed, or multicolored. This example has a cane headdress covered with raffia cloth with painted designs and detached wooden ears. The top of the headdress was probably originally adorned with feathers, like those worn by high-ranking persons.
context_page_description: The Bushong Kuba are responsible for some of the most beautiful and sophisticated masquerade or dance traditions in Africa.
context_section_description: The Bushong Kuba are responsible for some of the most beautiful and sophisticated masquerade or dance traditions in Africa.
caption: Pwoom Itok mask, from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
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