Mask, Middle Sepik River, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea

Mathias Komor, New York (inv. no. H 656)
Acquired from the above on February 10, 1965

Mary Washington College, ed., The Sculpture of Primitive Peoples, Fredericksburg, 1966, p. 18, pl. 20, cat. no. 29

This old and expressive mask, carved with stone tools, and layered with pigments, combines anthropomorphic and zoomorphic attributes. The face is enclosed in a heart-shaped frame which, according to Gregory Bateson's field notes, is termed wande. Beneath a fleshy and naturalistic human nose there is the bridge-like elongation, or molot, which is the most prominent and characteristic feature of mai masks. Here the boldly carved molot projects outwards and overhangs the lower part of the face like a handle. Behind the molot a sharp tongue sticks out, a motif that "is intended to repel enemies and hostile spirits". (Friede, ed., New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, San Francisco and Milan, 2005, vol. 2, p. 110). The Iatmul and Chambri iconographies are very closely related and aspects of both can be seen in this mask, which bears a certain resemblance to a Chambri suspension hook collected in the 1930s by Paul Wirz (ibid., p. 123, cat. no. 258).