EO.0.0.15374
Helmmasker / Masque-heaume / Helmet mask. Kindundu, Kwilu, RD Congo. [Suku]. Early 20th century. Wood (Ricinodendron heudelotii), pigment, plant fibre. Gift from the Compagnie du Kasaï. 1913. EO.0.0.15374.
The image of the Compagnie du Kasaï
This mask was offered to the museum by the Compagnie du Kasaï, a company that received a concession at the time of the Congo Free State to operate in Kasai, where it established a reign of terror. The firm attempted to burnish its image by means of exhibitions and the donation of ethnographic objects.
Upon its creation in 1901, the Compagnie du Kasaï (CK) was given the right to harvest rubber in, among others, the entire Kasai basin for a period of thirty years. This represented a total area of about 360,000 km2. The CK was one of the favoured partners of the Congo Free State.