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Mask (kepong or ges)
New Ireland
late 19th century
Object Place: Papua New Guinea
Medium/Technique
Wood, cane, fiber, pigments
Dimensions
36 cm (14 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of William E. and Bertha L. Teel
Accession Number1991.1072
CollectionsAfrica and Oceania
ClassificationsMasks
Several types of masks are associated with the malagan commemorative ceremonies. Large masks called matua with extravagant projections and superstructures were made for malagan display and appeared at the end of ceremonies to remove taboos. Groups of men wearing smaller, crested types such as this one roamed the village and performed similar tasks, "cleansing" the community and bringing life back to normal. These masks might represent tree-dwelling wild spirits who live in the bush. Flanges linking the ears to the jaw and the eyes to the mouth partially frame this mask's head. The open mouth reveals white and black teeth, intertwined frigate-bird and serpent forms compose the nose, and sea-snail shells animate the protruding eyes. The ribbed cane structure of the head is visible beneath the remains of vegetable fiber that once fully covered it. Like many New Ireland objects, the mask came to Germany before World War I. It bears the inscription "ME10259, Neu-Mechlenburg, Weber," Neu-Mecklenburg being German designation of the island. Its life history is one of the topics of the essay "From the South Seas."
Provenance1878, possibly acquired in Neu Mecklenberg (New Ireland), Papua New Guinea by Consul Theodor Weber (b. 1844-d. 1889), Hamburg; 1888, given by Weber to the Museum für Völkerkunde, Leipzig (accession no. ME 10259); 1975, deaccessioned by the Museum für Völkerkunde and exchanged [see note]. May 2, 1977, sold by the Galerie Alain Schoffel, Paris, to William and Bertha Teel, Marblehead, MA; 1991, year-end gift of William and Bertha Teel to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 22, 1992)
NOTE: Many thanks to Dr. Marion Melk-Koch of the Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen for confirming the provenance of the mask. Weber was director of the firm Godeffroy und Sohn in Apia, Samoa, where he arrived in 1862. It is not known exactly when or how he acquired this mask, but he traveled to New Ireland in 1878. After being used, masks of this type were discarded or destroyed. See Christraud M. Geary, ed., From the South Seas: Oceanic Art from the Teel Collection (Boston: MFA, 2006), 20-21, cat. no. 58.
NOTE: Many thanks to Dr. Marion Melk-Koch of the Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen for confirming the provenance of the mask. Weber was director of the firm Godeffroy und Sohn in Apia, Samoa, where he arrived in 1862. It is not known exactly when or how he acquired this mask, but he traveled to New Ireland in 1878. After being used, masks of this type were discarded or destroyed. See Christraud M. Geary, ed., From the South Seas: Oceanic Art from the Teel Collection (Boston: MFA, 2006), 20-21, cat. no. 58.