This mask type, called ‘okuyi’ or ‘mukudji’, represents a ‘beautiful girl’ coming to the living from the afterlife to pay a benevolent visit. 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’ were carved from light-coloured, lightweight wood. Their face was coloured white (by means of kaolin), their hairstyle and rim of the mask were dyed black. Punu masks have narrow slit eyes and typical tribal scarification marks on the face: a nine-part lozenge on the forehead and a nine-part rectangle on both temples.
Whereas the actual Punu people do not have tattoos on their faces, the masks of the Punu-Tsengi have additional linear or extensive decorative scarification marks, such as the black lines connecting the lozenges to a transverse rectangle in the present mask. In this way, the masks of the actual Punu and their sub-group, the Punu-Tsengi, can be easily differentiated. Under its small, flat nose with accentuated nostrils and above its relatively pointed chin, the present Punu-Tsengi mask has a well formed, small, protruding mouth, which is strongly dyed red. Also the inside of both ears are red. The black hairstyle of neat, deeply incised lines consists of a tall central crest and two pigtails at the side. Overall a perfect example of this mask type, with a visibly old shiny patina, in places with colour scuffing due to age and minimal chipped edges. Otherwise, no damage.
Height: 35 cm; first half of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance: Austrian private collection.

Lit.: ‘Ancestral Art of Gabon’ by Louis Perrois, ill. 24; ‘Encyclopedia of African Art and Culture’ by K.-F. Schädler, ill. p. 515, 516.