Painted bark cloth wraps around a conical, wooden frame to represent a powerful, ancestral spirit: Chikunza. In Chokwe communities, Chikunza was symbolically thought to sponsor and protect male initiation ceremonies. Despite his power, masks representing him were made from bark cloth, a notoriously fragile material. This was intentional. Like many masks associated with male initiation ceremonies in Chokwe societies—a class of artworks known as mukishi a ku mukanda—masks representing Chikunza were meant to be impermanent. At the completion of the ceremonies, these masks were burned along with the temporary campsite where the ceremonies took place. This example was likely created for sale to a European colonizer in the late 19th century.