December 2018 Ethnology
Under the gaze of the mosquito spirit
A Baining kavat
If we could dream like Melanesians, perhaps the spirits that inhabit the forest would ask some of us to give them life through such a mask. This kavat, which embodies the spirit of a forest mosquito in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, was worn during a fire dance and escaped destruction by the flames.
See complete notice See the artwork in the collectionMask of a forest spirit (kavat)
Papua New Guinea, New Britain island, Gazelle peninsula
End XIXth – beginning XXth Century AD
Bamboo, tapa, pigments
73 x 90 x 40 cm
FGA-ETH-OC-0009
Provenance
Ancient German private collection, 1960
Ludwig Bretschneider collection, Munich
Christie's, Paris, April 4, 2017,, lot n° 95
Unpublished
© Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Genève. Photographer : Thierry Ollivier
See also
