Initiation Mask: Kabemba

Artist Temne People (African)

Place of OriginSierra Leone

Date19th - early 20th century

DimensionsH. 20 in. (50.8 cm).

MediumWood with applied and incised sheet copper.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1964.55

Not on View

Label TextMasks are often central to initiation rites in Africa that prepare youth for adulthood. Among Temne peoples, the principal mask in male initiation rites is called Kabemba, which means “ancestor.” Temne initiation is referred to as ‘the kingdom of Temne,’ in which boys are ‘crowned’ into manhood in a metaphoric parallel to royal coronation. Kabemba is a benevolent spirit who leads the boys on the seventh day to the river for their ritual washing. Copper strips with incised and stamped decorative patterns may have served to transmit arcane knowledge to the initiates.Published References

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 7, no. 4, Winter, 1964, repr. p. 108.

"African Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 16, no. 2, 1973, p. 30, repr. fig. 2.

Roberts, Mary Nooter, Facing Africa: The African Art Collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1998, pp. 22-23, repr. (col.).

Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, Treasures for Toledo, 1964.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Leusinger, Elsy, Africa, the Art of the Negro Peoples, New York, Crown Publishers, 1967, p. 97, 99, fig. 36.

cf. Lommel, Andreas, Masks, Their Meaning and Function, London, Pael Elek Books, Ltd., 1972, p. 37, fig. 21.