Mask "mwai" ("mvai" / "mwei") · Papua New Guinea, Iatmul · ID: 3046920
Hendrik Elias, Wieze, Ghent, Belgium
Jo de Buck, Brussels, Belgium
Description
wood, clay, cowry and nassa snails,
“Mwai” masks, portraying clan ancestors, always appear in pairs.
They are are mounted on conical rattan and coconut fiber racks encased in painted palm leaf sheaths. The costumes are worn by younger, newly initiated men who hide under the rack, singing in howler pipes.
Women dance around the masks and try to recognize the identity of the mask wearer by the legs. Thus, the performances also serve the approach of the sexes and the love spell.
The object Mask “mwai” (“mvai” / “mwei”) with the object ID 3046920 was last part of the auction Voyage Tribal Art - Live Online Auction at May 23, 2020 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 40.
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.
Publications
Jo de Buck, "Hendrik Elias Legacy Archives", Brussels 2018, p. 69, ill. 4