{
    "data": {
        "id": 146775,
        "accession_number": "1972.2",
        "share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
        "tombstone": "Mask (Kifwebe), c. 1930s. Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Songye-style maker. Wood and paint; overall: 71.2 cm (28 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1972.2",
        "current_location": null,
        "title": "Mask (Kifwebe)",
        "creation_date": "c. 1930s",
        "creation_date_earliest": 1930,
        "creation_date_latest": 1939,
        "artists_tags": [],
        "culture": [
            "Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Songye-style maker"
        ],
        "technique": "Wood and paint",
        "support_materials": [],
        "department": "African Art",
        "collection": "African Art",
        "type": "Mask",
        "measurements": "Overall: 71.2 cm (28 1/16 in.)",
        "dimensions": {
            "overall": {
                "height": 0.712,
                "height_inch": 28,
                "height_inch_fraction": 0.0625
            }
        },
        "state_of_the_work": null,
        "edition_of_the_work": null,
        "copyright": null,
        "inscriptions": [],
        "exhibitions": {
            "current": [
                {
                    "id": 301752,
                    "title": "Year in Review: 1972",
                    "description": "<i>Year in Review: 1972</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).",
                    "opening_date": "1973-02-27T05:00:00"
                },
                {
                    "id": 302145,
                    "title": "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture",
                    "description": "<i>Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).",
                    "opening_date": "1975-09-24T04:00:00"
                }
            ],
            "legacy": []
        },
        "provenance": [
            {
                "description": "Georges Vidal, Cannes, France",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": [
                    "<div><!--block-->\"J'ai trouv\u00e9 ce masque Basongue dans la region da Cabinda. Kasa\u00ef Oriental. Ex Congo Belge des les ann\u00e9es 1960, 1961.\" Letter June 25, 1972 from Georges Vidal to Herbert Baker.</div>"
                ],
                "date": "acquired in 1960 or 1961",
                "sortorder": null
            },
            {
                "description": "Herbert Baker, Chicago, IL",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": [
                    "<div><!--block-->Owned by at least 1971; see CMA historical object number dated to that year</div>"
                ],
                "date": "until 1972",
                "sortorder": 3
            },
            {
                "description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art by purchase",
                "citations": [],
                "footnotes": null,
                "date": "1972\u2013",
                "sortorder": 4
            }
        ],
        "find_spot": null,
        "related_works": [],
        "former_accession_numbers": [],
        "did_you_know": "The three-colored stripes on this <em>kifwebe </em>mask visually link it to powerful and dangerous animals including zebras, snakes, lions, and porcupines; not all of these animals are local to where the Songye peoples live.",
        "early_education_description": null,
        "artlens_description": null,
        "description": "The closely spaced, painted grooves on this <em>kifwebe</em> mask accentuate the contours of the mask itself. The colors are mixed with sacred substances that activate the mask and help induce the wearer to enter a state of being between human and spirit. The theme of transformation may be inherent in the form of the mask itself, which recalls, in an abstracted way, some of the distinctive traits of the chameleon\u2014a supreme symbol of transformative power.",
        "external_resources": {
            "wikidata": [],
            "internet_archive": []
        },
        "citations": [
            {
                "citation": "Strother, Z. S., Inventing Masks; Agency and History in the Art of the Central Pende (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998), p. 162, no. 62.",
                "page_number": "",
                "url": ""
            },
            {
                "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: p. 272, no. 9.10",
                "url": ""
            }
        ],
        "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.2",
        "images": {},
        "alternate_images": [],
        "creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
        "image_credit": null,
        "sketchfab_id": null,
        "sketchfab_url": null,
        "gallery_donor_text": null,
        "athena_id": 146775,
        "creators": [],
        "legal_status": "accessioned",
        "accession_date": "1972-01-31T00:00:00",
        "sortable_date": 1930,
        "date_added_to_oa": null,
        "date_text": "c. 1930s",
        "collapse_artists": false,
        "on_loan": false,
        "recently_acquired": false,
        "record_type": "object",
        "conservation_statement": null,
        "has_conservation_images": false,
        "cover_accession_number": null,
        "is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
        "impression": null,
        "alternate_titles": [
            "Mask (kifwebe)"
        ],
        "is_highlight": false,
        "updated_at": "2026-08-03 14:18:38.059000"
    }
}