MASQUE PUNU

PUNU MASK
in light painted wood, depicting a woman's face
whitened with kaolin, with red highlights
with red highlights around the mouth
and fish-scale scarification marks
on the forehead and temples, as well as a headdress
a brown-painted headdress with a grooved central bun
painted brown with a braid on each side.
each side. Slits at eye level,
following the arched movement of the eyebrows,
allow vision.
Gabon, early 20th century.
Height: 28 cm - Width: 15 cm
(Wear, small visible chips)

PROVENANCE
- Collected before 1936 in Gabon by Marcel-Alix
Jean Marchessou (1879 - 1964), Governor
Governor General of French Equatorial Africa
(including present-day Gabon) on three occasions
between 1927 and 1936.
- Then by descent.