Murik Lakes Mask-Ledoux-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Art
Murik Lakes Mask, brag
Murik Lakes, Coastal Sepik River area, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Collected 1936 by Louis Pierre Ledoux
Pre-contact, stone-carved, 19th century
16 ¼” (41.2 cm) in height
When one encounters a New Guinea ritual object with a thick encrusted patina it usually speaks of the care and secrecy of it being kept for decades between ceremonies. The reserved, downcast gaze on this mask seems to quietly suggest the power within.