Early 1900 Tatanua Malagan masker from the Bismarck Archipel, Papua New-Guinea

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Early 1900 Tatanua Malagan masker from the Bismarck Archipel, Papua New-Guinea:
$3200.00

Very rare early 1900Tatanua Malagan masker - Bismarck Archipel, Papua Nieuw-Guinea

Comes from a US sale / collection.
Measuring approx: 50 X 50 X 28 cm or 19,68 X 19,68 X 11inches
Pleasecheck carefully the pictures as they are part of the description ofthe item.

New Ireland is in the Bismarck Archipelago, located north of New Guinea. Today it is a province of Papua New Guinea. Much of the art produced in New Ireland has traditionally centered on ceremonies and feasts to honor the dead (called Malagan). TheMalaganwas a ceremony to honor a deceased person or spirits of deceased ancestors.Malaganrefers to both the ceremonies that occur after burial, and the masks, figures, and posts made for us in them.

Performances, feasts, and dances were organized after the funeral (often one to five years after), when artists were hired to carve masks and complex sculptures that usually incorporated multiple figures. The purpose of theMalaganceremonies was to help send the soul of the deceased to the realm of the departed, and venerated ancestral spirits. WhileMalagansculptures are not portraits of the deceased, they represented the soul, and are thought to have contained the deceased\'s soul during the ceremony.