{
"data": {
"id": 144863,
"accession_number": "1969.8",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Mask (ndeemba), early 1900s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yaka-style carver. Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton; overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katherine C. White, 1969.8",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Mask (ndeemba)",
"creation_date": "early 1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1900,
"creation_date_latest": 1920,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Yaka-style carver"
],
"technique": "Wood, raffia, paint, and cotton",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "African Art",
"collection": "African Art",
"type": "Mask",
"measurements": "Overall: 47 cm (18 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.47,
"height_inch": 18,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301313,
"title": "Year in Review: 1969",
"description": "Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).",
"opening_date": "1970-01-27T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 316953,
"title": "Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art",
"description": "Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1, 2020-March 14, 2021).",
"opening_date": "2020-11-01T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "CMA 1968: \"African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection,\" cat. no. 231, repr.",
"opening_date": "1968-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "CMA 1970: \"Year in Review 1969,\" CMA Bulletin LVII (Jan., 1970), p. 47, no. 132, repr. p. 42.",
"opening_date": "1970-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "CMA 1978: Handbook, 1978, p. 412.",
"opening_date": "1978-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "CMA 1991: Handbook, 1991, p. 151.",
"opening_date": "1991-01-01T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Robert Stolper, New York",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1962 ",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Katherine C. White (Reswick), [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1969",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1969-",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"621.68"
],
"did_you_know": "Look under the fluffy layers of raffia fiber to see the handle; this mask was \"worn\" by holding it up to the face.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "This Mask (Ndeemba) has been featured prominently in the African galleries since making its debut at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1962. Dated to the 1900s, the object is part of a group of eight masks that appear at the end of the circumcision and puberty ritual (n-khanda) for Yaka boys. It would have marked the new status of the boys who became men and commemorated their re-entry into the village. Affirming age-long tradition, such masks are worn by the master of the initiation or by the newly initiated himself.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1969.8-mask-ndeemba"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Fagg, William, and Cleveland Museum of Art. 1968. African Tribal Images; the Katherine White Reswick Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, cat. no. 231.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. 1969 Year in Review. The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1, cat. 132.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Drewal, Henry John. African Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1989, fig.10.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"A New Installation for African Art in Cleveland.\" Tribal 3, no. 36 (Autumn/Winter 2004): 68-73",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art., 151, 1991b.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 412",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n432"
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantijn. South of the Sahara: selected works of African art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: cat. 39, p. 108 - 109",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "\"Current Exhibitions\", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 43 no. 08, October 2003",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 2",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2003-08/page/n1/"
},
{
"citation": "Petridis, Constantine. \"A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 12",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-01"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters : 2016-17 Companion Guide. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 14",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Second Careers : Two Tributaries in African Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 12, (detail); p. 60, pl. 6; mentioned: p. 22, 29, 31.",
"url": "https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1090438741"
},
{
"citation": "Smith, Fred T., Judith Perani, Joseph L. Underwood, and Martha J. Ehrlich. The Visual Arts of Africa : Gender, Power, and Life Cycle Rituals. Second edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 254-255, no. 9.4",
"url": ""
}
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"creditline": "Gift of Katherine C. White",
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"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 144863,
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1969-01-22T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1900,
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"date_text": "early 1900s",
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"alternate_titles": [
"Mask (Koluka/mbala)",
"Mask (Tsekedi, Myondo, or Ndeemba)\r\n"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-07-31 15:18:34.753000"
}
}