Description

Carved wood ancestor mask consisting of a head with an elongated brow; a long nose, mouth. The top of the head is decorated with cassowary feathers and two rows of cowrie shells. The forehead, sides and chin of the face are painted with black pigment and are inlaid with rows of numerous small shells. The face is decorated with white and black detailing on a brown ground. There is a long, cylindrical shaped piece of wood that stretches from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the mask that makes up the body of a crocodile; on the end is the reptiles head which faces downwards. The lower sides and bottom are lined with small bundles of sennit fibre.