Face mask

Reference : 23

Face mask

Wood, red ochre pigment, blue pigment (Rickett’s Blue), traces of lime, porcelain, rattan
Inscribed on the back in white ink: I E
Height: 41.2cm
Presumed period: 19th century
Coastal region of the Ramu River.
Madang Province
Papua New Guinea

Source :
– Probably sold by Giovanni Bettanin to the Budapest Museum
between 1897 and 1908.
– Magyar Nemzeti Muzeum (Hungarian National Museum), Budapest.
– Neprajzi Museum (Ethnographic Museum), Budapest,
by transfer of the aforementioned in 1947
– Emile Deletaille (1929-2021), Brussels,
acquired by exchange of the above in 1972
– Lucien Van de Velde, Antwerp
– JOLIKA Collection of Marcia & John Friede, Rye, New York
– Christie’s Paris, June 19, 2014 (lot 107)
– Private collection

Exhibitions :

– Galerie Deletaille, Brussels.
Oceanic Art from the Ethnographic Museum Budapest, 1972
– Crédit communal de Belgique, Brussels.
Masques du Monde – Het maskerin de Wereld. June 28 / July 31, 1974

Publication:
– Dorisingfang-Smet, A & Claerhout, AG (Eds)
Masques du Monde – Het maskerin de Wereld. Brussels 1974. Illustrated n°104
– John Friede, New Guinea Art, Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection
of Marcia & John Friede.
De Young Museum, San Francisco 2005, illustrated Vol 1 page 109 and Vol 2 cat 81.

More details

This ancient mask, with its long, curved nose and hollowed septum, features round eyes pierced and rimmed in white porcelain, surrounded by an ancient blue pigment. A slight, pierced protuberance is shown in the center of the forehead. The mask is edged with a curvilinear decoration called tared or hound’s teeth, rising up to small ears. A horizontal wooden axle is fixed to the back of the dancer’s body.

As John Friede (2005, cat 81) notes in reference to the addition of the lye blue surrounding the eyes of this mask: “European decorative elements were often applied to ritual objects, both for their striking artistic contribution and because they were designed to convey the magical power of the Europeans to the objects in question.”

Rickett’s Blue or Berliner Waschblau, imported by the Germans in the late 19th century, was soon used as a decorative element on many of the works collected around 1900. The same applies to the imported porcelain used to represent the eyes.

This beautiful mask is similar to one sold in 1904 to the Budapest Ethnographic Museum by Giovanni ^Bettanin1 and then, like ours, entered the Emile Deletaille collection and the Beaudoin De Grunne collection by ^exchange2.
_________________________________________________________________
1- Giovanni Bettanin was an Italian merchant. Between 1897 and 1908, he sold nearly 2,000 objects from the Pacific to the Budapest Museum.

2- Sotheby’s Paris sale, December 3, 2004 (lot 11)

Price on request

For further information, please contact us at
(+33)(0) 6 07 23 33 60, or leave us a message: