Les cornes, la croix et les défenses

Abstract

This paper is based on the study of three masks collected by C. Lemaire mission in the area of Lake Moero in the 1890s. The author attemps to understand the origin and the function of these objects which relate to a little-known facet of the arts in Katanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Hypotheses inspired by the stylistic and iconographic analysis allow establishing a cultural link between these masks and the hunting brotherhoods which were once active in the region. The latter interpretation also enables the author to evoke the important role that hunters’ guilds played during the ivory trade period under the reign of the Yeke sovereign M’siri. With regard to their influence, evidence and considerations are presented on the disappearance or the evolution of these various masks when the empire of M’siri disintegrated after his death in 1891.

Keywords

• mask
• hunting brotherhoods
• ivory trade
• Yeke
• Luba
• Sanga