A MID 20TH CENTURY PAPUA NEW GUINEA ANCESTOR MASK ON LATER STAND

the carved wood mask with holes for the eyes and nostrils, a piece of boar bone piercing the nostril holes, with raffia palm fibre hair and beard, raised on a purpose made metal stand with rectangular base,

the mask 53cm high, the stand 168cm high

The style of this mask, with small round eyes and elongated, pierced nose, is typical of the Angoram tribal region. It reputedly came from Magendo, a village in the Angoram district (East Sepik Province, PNG) and these masks were traditionally attached to the outside of a house as an ancestral protector.