Mask (Ishyeen Imaalu)

mid-20th century

African Art

On view, 1st floor, African Art

The initiation practiced in the central and northern Kuba region is called babende. One of the three masquerade characters associated with babende is Ishyeen Imaalu, a mask with protruding chameleon-like eyes that relate to an ability to perceive the invisible. The holes around the pupils allow the wearer limited vision during his performance. The babende mask triad appears at various stages during the initiation process and especially at the concluding ceremony, during which the initiates are reintroduced to the society.

Medium

Wood, monkey fur, raffia, cloth, cowrie shells, fiber, and pigment

Dimensions

11 1/4 × 12 × 14 3/4 in. (28.5 × 30.5 × 37.5 cm)

Credit Line

Charles B. Benenson, B.A. 1933, Collection

Accession Number

2006.51.437

Geography

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Culture

Kuba

Period

20th century

Classification

Masks

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Philippe Guimiot, Brussels: unknown date - May 10, 1977
Charles B. Benenson Collection, donated to Yale University Art Gallery in 2004
Bibliography
  • Frederick John Lamp, Amanda Maples, and Laura M. Smalligan, Accumulating Histories: African Art from the Charles B. Benenson Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2012), 78, 261, fig. 22
  • "Acquisitions, July 1, 2005–June 30, 2006," in "Photography at Yale," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2006), 222
  • Richard Barnes, "Objects of Desire," Yale Alumni Magazine (September/October 2004), 40, ill
  • Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2004), ill. cover
  • Frederick John Lamp, "Charles Benenson and His Legacy of African Art to Yale," in "Recent Acquisitions 2001–2003," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2004), 29, ill
  • Warren M. Robbins and Nancy Ingram Nooter, African Art in American Collections (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), 424, fig. 1074
Object copyright
Copyright Undetermined
Additional information

Object/Work type

ceremonial objects, masks (costume)

Technical metadata and APIs

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