*Mask, Wogeo Islands, Papua New Guinea H.... - Lot 80 - De Baecque et Associés

Lot 80
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Estimation :
6000 - 9000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 5 200EUR
*Mask, Wogeo Islands, Papua New Guinea H.... - Lot 80 - De Baecque et Associés
*Mask, Wogeo Islands, Papua New Guinea H. 95 cm Raffia wood Provenance : Private collection, Switzerland The art of the Schouten Islands - located in an offshore archipelago near the mouth of the Sepik River - is shaped and governed around and by rituals related to agrarian beliefs, harvesting, and enabling community life and survival. This mask, representing a mythical spirit called lewa, is a good example of this, as it is invoked to ensure food supplies for festivities. According to Meyer (1995: 184), masked dancers, called tangbwal in the vernacular, would appear in the village and dance to prohibit the gathering of coconuts during the period before the ceremonial food distribution of walage. While the dance costumes made of sago palm fiber were completely destroyed after the ritual, the lewa masks were carefully preserved for subsequent ceremonies. Extremely rare is the superb headdress that has been preserved on this example. It is conical in shape, made of finely woven palm fibers around a wooden base, and has been covered with pigments and earthy material, the top decorated with animal teeth. So many elements, ornaments attesting to the importance of the mask. The face is magnified by the rounded shape of the forehead, with its naturalistic features and strong relief. The large rounded forehead is divided by a median rib, partly crenellated, extending to the bridge of the nose with its large nostrils. Intensity of the gaze, marked by beautiful demarcations engraved on the periphery of the eyelids and the rings, refining, stretching in an almond shape to the temples. The hollowed-out pupils delicately take on the same shape. The lot is in temporary importation and subject to a 5.5% fee payable by the buyer in addition to the selling expenses and the hammer price.
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