A very rare and powerful mask from the Adjirab tribe, Porapora river, East Sepik province, Papua New Guinea. The mask is made of a breast plate bone from a Cassowary bird, attached to a weave of natural fibre/cane. Eyes made of mother of pearl inlays and the nose is made of fibre. The weave is partly overmodelled with redbrown clay. The mask is decorated with Conus shells, Nassa shells and Cassowary feathers. Age: early to mid 20th Century.
Fine condition, some losses of clay (but not many of this masks can be find with intact clay today).

ca 40 cm ,  15,7 in high

Metropolitan Museum has a similar mask from The Michael C Rockefeller Memorial Collection. See image.

Provenance: Doctor Bertil Örndahl (1923-2012). Örndahl worked as a doctor in many countries and travelled a lot in Africa, SE Asia and PNG in the 1960´s and collected many items during his travels.

Price on request