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Details
LOT 2333
African Wooden Ceremonial 'Maiden Spirit' Mask
PUNU TRIBE, EARLY-MID 20TH CENTURY A.D.
14 3/8 in. (851 grams, 36.5 cm).
A wooden mask with traces of white facial pigment and a raffia collar. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From Gabon, West Africa.
From an old Norwich, UK, collection.
From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman.
Footnotes
Punu masks represent idealised female ancestors' faces. The white colour of the mask is genderless and a symbol for peace, deities, spirits of the dead, and the afterlife. It is the predominating colour in funeral celebrations and memorials. The masks were worn during funerals. They appeared also in the magical rites whose function was to unmask sorcerers. The masks have realistic, mostly white but sometimes black faces with protruding pursed lips, globular protruding eyes incised with a curve, high-domed foreheads, and characteristic rigid high coiffures reflecting the Punu women's hair styles. The masks often have an oriental expression, but no such influence has been established. Many Punu masks can be recognized by raised diamond-shape scarification marks on the foreheads and temples.
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