Title
Mask
Year/Period
Mid 20th century
Region
Tambanum, Papua New Guinea
Material
Technique
Dimension
Object size: 104 x 30.5 cm
Accession No.
W-0473
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. A.C. Galstawn
This ancestral mask is painted with natural clay pigments and is decorated with bird feathers, cowrie shells and has a bast skirt fringe. It may represent an ancestor of the clan. The designs must be kept to the patterns actually worn by the dead man in ceremonies during his lifetime. Those were his personal property and not to be imitated by others.'Ancestor masks' were made to commemorate the recently deceased, and were kept in the men's house, out of the view of the uninitiated, the women and children.
