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Helmet mask (kakaparaga)
Witu Island
late 19th century
Object Place: Papua New Guinea
Medium/Technique
Wood, pigment
Dimensions
53.34 x 33.0 x 30.5 cm (21 x 13 x 12 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of William E. and Bertha L. Teel
Accession Number1991.1075
CollectionsAfrica and Oceania
ClassificationsMiniatures
Art forms of southern New Britain and offshore islands have affinities to those of New Guinea's Huon Gulf and the Tami Islands due to extensive trading networks. On the Witu Islands to the north-west of New Britain, artists make masks from a variety of materials, such as bark cloth, fibers, cane, feathers, and leaves. Three types have been identified, among them this kakaparaga form. It is the only type of helmet mask in the region carved entirely from wood, although it resembles wooden masks called nausung made by the Kilenge on New Britain. The lone protrusions on this cylindrical helmet are the notched ridges of the bulbous head-piece, the long pierced nose, and the pendant ears. Triangular areas of turquoise enhance the shape of the nose and eyes, and only paint indicates the mouth; alternating bands of red, turquoise, and white pigment surround the face. The back of the head bears a slightly raised relief of an animal, perhaps a crocodile. Early European observers referred to the kakaparaga and other mask types on the Witu Islands as death masks, indicating that they may have been used in funerary rites. For more on this mask, see the essay "From the South Seas."
ProvenanceBetween about 1882 and 1897, acquired on the Witu Islands by Richard Parkinson (b. 1844 - d. 1909) [see note]; 1897, sold by Parkinson to the Königlich Zoologisches, Anthropologisch-Ethnographisches Museum, later the Museum für Völkerkunde, Dresden (inventory no. 12116); 1974, exchanged by the Museum für Völkerkunde with Everett Rassiga (dealer; b. 1922 - d. 2003), Bern; sold by Rassiga to Walter Randel (dealer), New York. John Friede, San Francisco; sold by Friede to Wayne Heathcote (dealer), New York; July 20, 1982, sold by Wayne Heathcote 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:
Richard Parkinson was an ethnographer and planter who traveled to Samoa in 1876 as a representative of the Hamburg trading firm J. C. Godeffroy and Sohn. He moved to the Bismarck Archipelago in 1882 and, beginning in 1890, worked for the German New Guinea Company as a collector and surveyor. He acquired and sold local artifacts to museums in Europe and the United States. It is not known exactly when or how he acquired this mask. Similar masks in European collections--all acquired at around the same time--are presumed to have been used during funerary celebrations. See Jim Specht, "Traders and Collectors: Richard Parkinson and Family in the Bismarck Archipelago, P.N.G.," Pacific Arts 21/22 (2000): 23-38 and Christraud M. Geary, ed., From the South Seas: Oceanic Art in the Teel Collection (Boston: MFA, 2006), 21-24 and cat. 51.
NOTE:
Richard Parkinson was an ethnographer and planter who traveled to Samoa in 1876 as a representative of the Hamburg trading firm J. C. Godeffroy and Sohn. He moved to the Bismarck Archipelago in 1882 and, beginning in 1890, worked for the German New Guinea Company as a collector and surveyor. He acquired and sold local artifacts to museums in Europe and the United States. It is not known exactly when or how he acquired this mask. Similar masks in European collections--all acquired at around the same time--are presumed to have been used during funerary celebrations. See Jim Specht, "Traders and Collectors: Richard Parkinson and Family in the Bismarck Archipelago, P.N.G.," Pacific Arts 21/22 (2000): 23-38 and Christraud M. Geary, ed., From the South Seas: Oceanic Art in the Teel Collection (Boston: MFA, 2006), 21-24 and cat. 51.