Mask

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Culture Iatmul

Culture Nyaura (Subgroup of the Iatmul)

Title Mask (Mei)

Date Late 19th–early 20th century

Medium Wood, pigment, and and cowrie shells

Dimensions Object: 25 1/16 × 3 3/4 × 4 in. (63.7 × 9.5 × 10.2 cm)
Overall: 25 1/16 × 3 3/4 × 4 in. (63.7 × 9.5 × 10.2 cm)

Credit Line Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 2010.3

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About this Work

The complex, dynamic society of the Iatmul, a group living along the middle Sepik River, has produced a prodigious number of masks, figures, and other decorated objects. Although called a mask, this sculpture has neither eye holes nor sufficient width to cover the face. Instead, it was originally attached to a large, full-length fiber cone that covered the masquerader and was decorated with a colorful array of shells, feathers, leaves, and flowers. Mai masqueraders appeared at dances that were junior analogues to those honoring ancestors, which were performed by senior initiated men; the masks represent ancestral spirits.

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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Mask | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2010.3