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Tatanua mask

New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago

Late 19 th – early 20 th century

Height: 32 cm – Width: 22 cm – Depth: 33 cm

Carved wood (alstonia), pigments, fiber, cloth and shell

55 000 €

Tatanua masks are veritable icons of Oceanic art. These powerfully expressive masks are distinguished by a rich painted decoration and an imposing crest in fibers. Tatanua masks are important to ritual life, marking the closing of the Malagan, a ceremonial cycle at the heart of the ancestral practices of New Ireland in the South Pacific.

Provenance

Ex collection Robert Rousset (1901-1981), Paris
Acquired between 1920 and 1930
By descent

Publication(s)

Ferocious Poetry, L’Enfance de l’Art, 2019

Exhibition(s)

Poésie Féroce, Parcours des Mondes 2019, Paris