(CH 147) Lower Sepik Mask.
Carved wood with a boar tusks, shell, clay, fibre and cane surround.
Old dry patina with collection number 'V8' to reverse.
Little information is recorded for these masks which appeared in groups of four at ceremonies centered on a girls' first menstruation.
The mask would not have been worn over the face but attached to a larger framework costume. Deep brown patina to reverse, white, orange and black pigments.
Angoram People, Kanduanam or Maramba Village area.
Lower Sepik River.
Early to mid 20th Century.
Ex-Alex Philips Collection.
Ht. 62 Cm.

References
The Peter Hallinan Collection of Melanesian Art Sotheby's, London 7/12/92 Lot 32.

Property from the Foundation Dr Edmund Muller Sotheby's, New York 22/11/98 Lot 40.

Art of the World: Oceania Australia Buhler, Barrow, Mountford 1965. Fig.19, Page 67. - This example is noted as "Kanduonum".

New Guinea Art in the Collection of the Museum of Primitive Art Douglas Newton 1967. Fig.42.

Also the following link shows an example held by Liverpool Museum, UK.