African mask, looking for help with attribution, age and provenance. Sweden.
Hi everyone,
I am based in Sweden and I’m trying to research an African wooden mask that has been in my family’s possession.
The mask measures approximately 33 cm high × 21 cm wide. It is carved from wood, with a light/white pigment on the front and a hollowed reverse. There are several attachment holes around the edges.
The family history is as follows: my grandmother received the mask from her Danish friend Thorkild, who is now very elderly. According to my grandmother, Thorkild acquired it from, or was given it by, a collector in Denmark after that collector had died. She specifically remembers Copenhagen being mentioned and that the mask is from the DR of Congo. She also remembers being told that the mask may date from around the 1920s, but there is no written documentation, so I am treating that as oral family history rather than confirmed fact.
From my own research, it seems to share some features with Lega / Bwami masks from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly related to the idimu / larger Bwami mask tradition, rather than a small lukwakongo maskette. However, I am not an expert and would be very grateful for more informed opinions.
I am mainly looking for help with:
Possible attribution: Lega/Bwami, Kongo region, or something else?
Approximate age: could it plausibly be early 20th century, or is it more likely later?
Any other comparable examples I should look at?
General thoughts on whether this is worth pursuing with a specialist tribal/ethnographic art expert.
Thank you for any help!