A kepong mask representing an ancestral forest spirit representing a form of a savage, or wild, counterpart to humans. The nose is carved as a separate piece and develops a complex assemblage of a bird (hornbill ?) holding the tail of a snake that zigzags downward while being bitten behind the head by a shark. An inverted stylized bird beak supports the snake from under. The eyes are carved as tight ovals with raised edges containing the shell pupils. The cheeks are painted with oval lines that terminate in the two oblique corners with black silhouettes of angelfish. The upper wing-like ears are tall ovals with oblique bands of raised carving. The striated earlobes are pierced and hang as loops with a small knob under each. A large bird, possibly a tern, is gripped by its feet in the kepong’s mouth and hangs vertically with folded wings and pointed beak. The face, ears and mouth ornament of the mask are carved from one piece of wood while the complex nose is slotted in and pegged.

Possibly Lavongai Island (formerly New Hannover), Northern New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Alstonia wood with pigments and turbo marmoratus operculea. 88 x 36 x 22 cm. 19th century. Ex coll. Pierre Verité & Claude Verité, (acquired circa 1930/1950) Inv. N° 3277, lot N° 311 of the Verité auction, Hotel Drouot 18/19 june 2006, Paris. Ex private collection, Paris.

Ref. :
• Gunn, Michael: ARTS RITUELS D’OCEANIE, NOUVELLE-IRLANDE dans les Collections du Musee Barbier Mueller. Skira, Milano, 1998, fig. 39, p. 142 for a kepong from Lavongai Island (New Hannover).
• Helfrich, Klaus: MALANGGAN I – Bildwerk von Neuirland. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, 1973, pl. 94a/94b for a similar treatment of the eyes surrounded by angelfish.