Masque mystérieux avec ornement en tissu de toile d'araignée ·  Vanuatu - Île de Malakula · ID: 3051830

Description

vegetable fibre paste, base

Expressive mask in bold colours of bright red and indigo blue. The face is framed by wild boar tusks and decorated with thin, pointed wooden sticks arranged in a radial pattern on either side of the face.

In a gouache painting from the second half of the 19th century, a formally comparable mask with webbing and distinctive wooden sticks is called “temar ne are” (Galerie Meyer, ‘Vanuatu Art’, Paris 1997, p. 11, ill. 5.).

Masks of a similar size to the present example, crowned rod puppets “temes nevimbür”. According to Guiart, these were used in rituals to appease the deceased so that they would leave the living in peace. According to other sources, they were used by members of the secret society “nevimbur” in ceremonies held to achieve a higher status or to accept a higher title. Dozens of pigs with circular tusks had to be sacrificed on a single occasion in order to reach the next level or rank within the society.

The heads of the “temes nevimbür” are removed from their supports and kept in the “nakamal”, or Mens-House. Guiart reports that the heads are often attached to the shoulders, knees and elbows of the owner’s “rambaramp”, or funerary effigy. (Galerie Meyer, “Vanuatu Art”, Paris 1997, p. 10).

L’objet Masque mystérieux avec ornement en tissu de toile d’araignée avec l’ID d’objet 3051830 a fait partie de la dernière vente aux enchères Vente aux enchères 104 dans 12 avril 2025 le Zemanek-Münster Hôtel des ventes. L’objet portant le numéro de lot 185 a atteint un prix de vente de 3 500 €.

Vous trouverez d’autres Masques et autres types d’objets populaires sur nos pages thématiques associées. Notre page sur le thème Art océanien pourrait également vous intéresser.

Littérature comparée

Kaufmann, Christian, Vanuatu - Kunst aus der Südsee, Basel 1997, p. 58, ill. 65