Mask head "temes maur" · Vanuatu · ID: 3047756
Piet Lepelaar, Leiden, The Netherlands
Description
tree-fern root, vegetable clay, red ochre, boar tusks, spider web material,
These masks are embodiments of the souls of the deceased and are closely linked to funeral rituals “nalawan nemasien” or “masien”.
They bear different names (“temes maur”, “nani”, “nato”, “maux”) and their use differs in each community.
During funeral rituals, they could be worn like a mask, with a veil made of spider-web material allowing the dancer to see. Other mask heads were mounted on sticks and placed around the funerary bier, where they represented the ancestors. At ceremonies to remember the dead, they are said to have appeared as moving puppets above a screen of leaf material.
The object Mask head “temes maur” with the object ID 3047756 was last part of the auction 96th Auction at April 24, 2021 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 93 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,000.
You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on Oceanian art.
Comparing literature
Howarth, Crispin, Kastom, Art of Vanuatu, Canberra 2013, p. 101