Description

Carved wood mask consisting of a head with an elongated brow; a long nose, mouth and chin. The top of the head is decorated with cassowary feathers and a small tuft of human hair. The face is elaborately detailed with dark blue, light blue and brown stylized designs on a white ground. There is a long, cylindrical shaped piece of wood that stretches from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the mask; on the end is a small carved bird. The forehead and the side of the face are inlaid with rows of small shells; the eyes and sections of the forehead are detailed with inlaid cowrie shells. The nose has boar tusk on either side. The lower sides and bottom are lined with small bundles of sennit fibre. The bottom tip and the sides have bundles of black feathers.