Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Mask
Not on view
The nuanced definition of the facial structure, which features delicately arced nostrils and a strong chin, is striking for its lifelike quality. The mask’s surface was covered with mpemba, the white chalk or clay identified with purity, contact with the ancestors, and virtue. Mpemba is also the term for the spiritual realm and land of the dead where the influential forces invoked by Kongo priests reside. Chief among these are bakulu (ancestors) and bisimbi or bakisi (local nature spirits).
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