20th C. Papua New Guinea Maprik Wood & Fiber Dance Mask

**Originally Listed At $250**

Oceania, Papua New Guinea, Maprik District, ca. early to mid 20th century CE. A fine dance mask with a frame of bent wooden strips bound tightly with lengths of dried reed fibers. The tree bark face boasts hollow wooden eyes, a woven nose that curls dramatically around a bound group of wooden dowels, five elaborate carved-wood nose rings, a coiffure of coarse grass, and an exterior binding with enclosed undulating cords. Traces of faded white, blue, yellow, and red pigment are still visible atop the brown-painted ground of the face. Size: 20" W x 34" H (50.8 cm x 86.4 cm).

Provenance: private Tucson, Arizona, USA collection, acquired between 1950 and 1985

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#147951
Condition Report: Losses to lower woven periphery and areas of coiffure grass. Loosening and fraying to some peripheral cords, with fading to original pigmentation, and small chips to nose rings, eyes, and framework on verso. Nice earthen deposits throughout, and great traces of original pigmentation on face.