Mask (Kavat)
late 19th or early 20th century
Baining
Arts of the Pacific Islands
Worn during spectacular night dances, this helmet mask represents a leaf spirit, one of the many bush spirits depicted by kavat bark-cloth masks.
The mask is formed by stretching bark cloth over a thin cane frame. The pigments that decorate these masks have general symbolic associations: red with masculinity, reminiscent of the flames through which the mask dances at night; black with femininity, the soot of cooking fires, and fertile earth; and white with the spirit world.
The mask is formed by stretching bark cloth over a thin cane frame. The pigments that decorate these masks have general symbolic associations: red with masculinity, reminiscent of the flames through which the mask dances at night; black with femininity, the soot of cooking fires, and fertile earth; and white with the spirit world.
- Maker/Artist
- Baining
- Classification
- Masks
- Formatted Medium
- Barkcloth, pigment, cane
- Locations
- Place made: Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea
- Dimensions
- 50 x 11 x 29 in. (127 x 27.9 x 73.7 cm)
- Departments
- Arts of the Pacific Islands
- Accession Number
- 1994.142
- Credit Line
- Gift of Thomas and Katherine Brush
- Rights Statement
- Creative Commons-BY
- Museum Location
- This item is not on view
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