A «Mwana Pwo» Mask wood, fibers and metal mask representing the ideal of female beauty, used by professional dancers in various types of ceremonies Angolan - Tshokwe 20th C. (1st quarter) minor defects from the region of Saurimo, province of Lunda-Sul Dimensões (altura x comprimento x largura) - 19 cm Notes: Provenance: Collection of Engineer Elísio Romariz dos Santos Silva

Fig. 7 in the notes printed "A Escultura Tribal dos Povos Banto" updated version, from 1995, of the work with the title "A Escultura Negro-Africana Vista à Luz da Filosofia Banta", which the author presented in 1971, for the XXII Floral Games of Huambo Town Hall (former Nova Lisboa)- Angola, pp. 13-14. Original work available at http://memoriaafrica.ua.pt/Library/ShowImage.aspx?q=/bchuambo/bchuambo-026&p=10, consulted on March 16, 2023 at 11:16.
Item number 4, mentioned in the collector's notebook  «Angola - Arte Negra, Relação e descrição das peças», identified in it as «Máscara Muana Puo»: "Tattoos: - on the forehead and chin: «Mupila»; - on the cheeks: «Masoji» (tears), «Tubenga» (which is not straight); - on the nose: «Cangongo». - The nasal septum is perforated to be crossed by a stick (mutondu wa zulu), ethnic mutilation that was widely used by the populations of northeastern Angola, but is now in disuse. - Several cross-shaped signs (variants of «mipila»?) all over the face. On the forehead are two brass head studs. [...] Purchased on May 30th. [19]70 to Sanssango Tchiouga, a Tshokwe  dancer who represented(?) in the Lumeje region. This dancer lived in the Soba Jamba sanzala (Luena), north of the C. F. Benguela railway line [...]. The mask, his costume and two rattles were kept in a good wooden box with a lid [...]. Purchasing the mask was very difficult because the dancer said that the mask had come from the region of Saurimo (Henrique de Carvalho) and that in Lumeje there was no sculptor who could make another one as beautiful and good [...]. For this reason, after a long conversation, not only with me, but also with his friends, whom he asked for advice, he decided to sell it [...] but when he handed it over, tears came to his eyes, it was a pity to part with it and to have to go without dancing for a while until he found another". According to Marie Louise-Bastin "The name of the mask is Pwo, "Woman", or Mwana Pwo, "Girl".  It used to represent a mature woman who had proved her fertility by having a child. More recently, due to changing African values - possibly under European influence - this mask has represented a girl and the hope of having many children. The male masquerade, embodying the female ancestor, guarantees fertility to the spectators during his performance. He has fake breasts and wears cloth draped around his hips and a heavy crescent-shaped belt that bounces up and down as he moves his back. In the past, these gestures were discreet and elegant in order to teach women graceful manners. When ordering a mask, the dancer offered a brass coin, the symbolic price of a bride. Treated as if it were a person, the mask was often buried by the death of the dancer, whose profession generally passed to the nephew. A professional sculptor ('songi') was then tasked with producing a new mask, a process that formerly took several weeks. He worked in the bush, using as a model a woman whose beauty he admired. To that end, he took every opportunity to meet her and observe her features, including her tattoos, hairstyle, and jewelry. For this reason, female masks are often portraits; although they share the fundamental characteristics of all Tshokwe sculpture, each piece varies in subtle ways. The technical mastery of the sculptor, combined with the inspiration caused by the model, explain the great variety of sculptural expression always found in Tshokwe art. The «mukishi wa Pwo» adorns many objects, such as drums, sanzas and knife sheaths. When a female image works as a counterpoint to a representation of the male «Cihongo» mask, reference is also being made to the «Pwo». If the owner of the «Pwo» mask became ill, it was customary to consult a diviner to find out if it was the spirit of the «Pwo» mask that was causing the illness. If the dancer no longer had a mask, he would order a new one and inaugurate it near the «cota», after his wife had sacrificed a chicken over the head of the mask. He would then dance before the assembled village. Finally, there would be a communion meal between the dancer and his wife. The same ritual would be performed in the case of someone who had neglected a mask still in use. The dancer kept the «Pwo» mask usually in the «mutenji» hut outside the village or hidden in a basket in his own house.) cf. BASTIN, Marie-Louise - "Escultura Tshokwe". Porto: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, 1999, pp. 102-103. Para o mesmo tipo de máscara vd. REDINHA, José - "Album Etnográfico Portugal-Angola". Luanda: C.I.T.A, 1971, p. 91 (como "Muana-Mpuo"); JORDÁN, Manuel - "Os Tshokwe e Povos Aparentados". In "Na presença dos Espíritos - Arte Africana do Museu Nacional de Etnologia, Lisboa". New York: Museum for African Art, Snoeck-Ducaju, 2000, pp. 100-102, cat. 73-75; BASTIN, Marie-Louise. "La sculpture Tshokwe”. Arcueil: Alain et Françoise Chaffin, 1982, pp. 100-103, figs. 40-45 (como "Masque Pwo/Pwo"); o catálogo "Escultura Angolana - Memorial de Culturas". Lisboa: Museu Nacional de Etnologia - Sociedade Lisboa 94, 1994, pp. 143-144, nºs 162-164; LIMA, Mesquitela de - "Os Akixi (Mascarados) do Nordeste de Angola". In "Diamag - Publicações Culturais nº 70". Lisboa: Companhia de Diamantes de Angola - Serviços Culturais Dundo - Lunda - Angola - Museu do Dundo, 1967, pp. 151 e 153, nºs 11-15 (como "Mukixi wa Pwó"); FELIX, Marc Leo. - "100 Peoples of Zaire and Their Sculpture: The Handbook”. Brussels: Zaire Basin Art History Research Foundation, 1987, p. 183, fig. 15; o catálogo do leilão realizado a 1 de Fevereiro de 2023 na Lempertz "Art of Arfrica, the Pacific and the Americas". Brussels: Lempertz, 2023, lote 42; e https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/319264?ft=Pwo&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=1, consultado a 14 de Março de 2023 às 15:37.