GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The vertical openwork panels that flank the face of this mask are characteristic of the type called wanis, which represents bush spirits. Their appearance is the first sign that a malagan ceremony is about to occur. Malagan is the name for the elaborate funerary ceremonies and feasts to honor the dead in New Ireland, and it is also the term used to describe the masks and sculptures made for the ceremonies.
A favorite theme in malagan sculpture is a bird with a serpent in its beak, which seems to have cosmological significance, the bird referring to the upper world or heaven and the serpent representing the earth or underworld. A fish arches above the head of the mask and pulls its long tongue upward. Each of the side panels depicts a vertically oriented fish grasping the undulating body of a serpent. The combination of fish and serpent on this mask may represent a less common mythical subject.
Adapted from
Carol Robbins, Label text, 2006.
NOTES
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Tribal Trust, YouTube~Watch Mathew Salle, a carver on Tabar Islands in Papua New Guinea, make a traditional malagan sculpture.
- Tribal Trust, YouTube~Watch an interview of Edward Salle, a traditional owner of Malangan on theTabar Islands in Papua New Guinea.
- Encyclopedia Britannica~Read about the climate, people, culture, and history of Papua New Guinea.
- Encyclopedia Britannica~Learn more about the region of Oceania.
- National Museums Scotland~Explore resources about arts of the Oceania region of the Pacific.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1975.11
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
The vertical openwork panels that flank the face of this mask are characteristic of the type called wanis, which represents bush spirits. Their appearance is the first sign that a malagan ceremony is about to occur. Malagan is the name for the elaborate funerary ceremonies and feasts to honor the dead in New Ireland, and it is also the term used to describe the masks and sculptures made for the ceremonies.
A favorite theme in malagan sculpture is a bird with a serpent in its beak, which seems to have cosmological significance, the bird referring to the upper world or heaven and the serpent representing the earth or underworld. A fish arches above the head of the mask and pulls its long tongue upward. Each of the side panels depicts a vertically oriented fish grasping the undulating body of a serpent. The combination of fish and serpent on this mask may represent a less common mythical subject.
Adapted from
Carol Robbins, Label text, 2006.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Tribal Trust, YouTube~Watch Mathew Salle, a carver on Tabar Islands in Papua New Guinea, make a traditional malagan sculpture.
- Tribal Trust, YouTube~Watch an interview of Edward Salle, a traditional owner of Malangan on theTabar Islands in Papua New Guinea.
- Encyclopedia Britannica~Read about the climate, people, culture, and history of Papua New Guinea.
- Encyclopedia Britannica~Learn more about the region of Oceania.
- National Museums Scotland~Explore resources about arts of the Oceania region of the Pacific.
Notes
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1975.11
source file
object_notes_2_d-0100.xml.nores