A NEW IRELAND MASK, the pierced broad mouth with carved and painted teeth, the projecting tongue joining the nose, projecting pierced lenticular eyes, one retaining inset shell opercula, rattan superstructure, painted red, white and black, damages and deficiences

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A NEW IRELAND MASK, the pierced broad mouth with carved and painted teeth, the projecting tongue joining the nose, projecting pierced lenticular eyes, one retaining inset shell opercula, rattan superstructure, painted red, white and black, damages and deficiences
49cm. high

Lot Essay

Cf. Lincoln, 1987, p.107, fig.14 for a similar mask collected before 1900 by the crew of the Panther of the Austro-Hungarian navy. According to Lincoln the mask probably represents a ges spirit, a powerful and destructive force said to attack humans who inadvertently saw them.

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