This well-known, ‘classical’ mask type of the Punu, called ‘okuyi’ or ‘mukudji’, represents a ‘beautiful girl’ who comes to the living from the afterlife to pay a benevolent visit (in African art the colour white is often connected with the phenomenon of ‘death’). The ‘okuyi masks’ are worn by men in full body costumes who stand on two metre high stilts, during ceremonies, feasts and at markets. ‘Okuyi masks’ such as the present one were always carved from light-coloured, lightweight wood. The face with the typical ‘Asian’ seeming slit eyes was coloured in white by means of kaolin. The hairstyle with two central crests and short plaits on both sides is delicately lined and dyed black. On her forehead she wears the red, typical tribal scarification mark of a nine-part lozenge, between the wide eyebrow arches. Also the full lips of the open mouth with the upper row of teeth are dyed red, as are the insides of both ears. By means of the two side holes, the mask was tied to the head of the dancer (one pair of holes is already torn off due to protracted use of the mask), and the mask costume was pulled over the broad rim. A stylistically perfect example of an ‘okuyi mask’ of the Punu, with colour scuffing due to age and small, minimal breaks to the hairstyle, right at the top, and on the right eye-slit (as well as the two already mentioned broken fastening eyelets). Otherwise no damage. With good, convincing usage patina on the inside on the back.
Height: 32 cm; width: 18 cm. First half of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance: Austrian private collection.

Lit.: ‘Punu’ by Louis Perrois & Charlotte Grand-Dufay, ill. 13–18; ‘Encyclopdia of African Art and Culture’ by K.-F. Schädler, ill. p. 516; ‘Ancestral Art of Gabon’ by Louis Perrois, ill. 23.