Painted Mbole Shrine Mask, Based

Half yellow, half green. One ragged rectangle for a mouth. It does not look like it plans to explain.

This painted Mbole shrine mask, based, comes from the Mbole peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo, early 20th century, in wood and paint. Mbole sculpture is closely tied to Lilwa, a men's association concerned with initiation and social order, and masks like this are understood to have belonged to that world of authority and instruction. A brown ridge splits the face in two, between flat planes of yellow and green. Round eyes are drilled through, and a domed head rises above. Fifteen inches high.

No two sides of this argument agree. That may be the point.