Mask

This oval-shaped mask, with its large forehead and naturalistic nose, represents an ancestor. Carved with a lithic tool, it has a significant patina of use, a sign of great age. Three labels are attached to the back. Two with old collection or sales numbers and one inscribed “ Nouvelle Guinée / masque Sepik / Collection la Korrigane “.

This mask was one of the objects kept by the Van Den Broek family. It appears to have been purchased by them at an earlier auction at Hôtel Drouot, but was not collected during the Korrigane expedition.

This mask is one of a small number of important masks that were not used for dances, but were kept in the men’s homes, attached to bamboo frames. The masks could be consulted after being ritually presented with offerings in exchange for supernatural help, particularly in the event of war. They had the power to make men invincible against enemy spears, and even to make them invisible to the enemy.

The mask could tell the men which village to attack and when. After a successful raid, the men would return with an enemy’s head and present it to the mask, which would then “drink” the victim’s blood.