African Art--THE CHOKWE PEOPLE

Chokwe mwana pow mask

Mwana pwo--young woman perfect woman--archetypal female ancestor European influence fertility and prominent role of women naturalistic features idealized scarification motif coiffure cruciform balanced features

Chokwe thrones late 19th cent. early 20th cent.

adapted from Europe high relief- carved panel where fiures project from the background low relief--inside scenes from daily life under chair ancestors below chair (eyes closed) rulers wood with brass tacks made chairs larger--hierarchy of scale practical--leans back backrest decorated with the head of an ancestral cheif

pwo

adult woman who had given birth

archetype

an original model after which similar things are patterned; a perfect or typical example

Chibinda

culture hero and great hunter according to myth founder of Lunda kingdom rulers of Chokwe descended from him introduced divine kingship

coiffure

decorative hairstyle--high class

scarification early 20th century

decorative markings on the human body made by cutting or piercing the flesh

Chokwe People 19th century

matrilineal society communities that had fled from slave hunters

Figures of Chibinda Ilunga

rare Chibinda Ilunga became the archetypal chief wood-16 in. tall hunting tool backstory in slideshow headdress--leader staff in his right hand and a carved antelope horn (medicine horn to assist the hunter) in his left This sculpture conveys the physical strength and stealth of the hunter's body as well as the sensitivity and intelligence of a great leader's face large hands and feet show strength ancestral hero In palaces

Chokwe mwana pow mask purpose

used for masquerades--increased fertility on ancestors worn by men in tight fitted bodysuits and breasts of wood men carry fans and move like women wood, plant fiber, pigment, copper alloy, kaolin incitation ceremonies for men evoke female ancestors for fertility mask would be buried with dance