Sulka Helmet Mask, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea

Wowoi Susu or Gitvung Susu

Label inscribed:
Slg. Hch. Lahmann
Aug. 1932
No. 8



Label printed:
Tanzmaske ( Dukduk ) Südküste Neu Pommern, halbe Höhe



Inscribed:
S. Neu Pom[m]ern. and 47658

Possibly collected in situ by Richard Parkinson (1844 - 1909), resident in the Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain from 1882 - 1909
Dr Heinrich Lahmann (1860 - 1905), Dresden
Museum für Völkerkunde, Dresden, August 1932 (No. 47658)
Everett Rassiga, New York, acquired from the above by exchange
Sotheby’s, New York, November 20, 1991, lot 21, consigned by the above
Private Collection, Germany

Anthony JP Meyer, Oceanic Art/Ozeanische Kunst/Art Océanien, Cologne, 1995, p. 372, no. 406

Very good condition overall for an object of this age, rarity, and manner and material of construction. Some small tears, loose fibers, and minor breaks in places. A few blotches of darker pigment in places. The fiber collar loose, dry, and fragile. Cassowary feathers in good condition. Surface generally a faded, dusty pink, slightly uneven fading in places, typical of old Sulka helmet masks.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The conical form and protuding forehead of this extraordinarily rare mask combines elements of the human with the form of the wowoi salt-water snail in "a manner characteristic of Melanesian thinking on the unity of life forms" (Kaufmann in Beyeler 1997: 266). These masks lent magnificence to initiation ceremonies (the black teeth are a reference to the blackening of the teeth of young male initiates), and as Jeudy-Ballini notes (in Heermann 2001: 114) their primary purpose was to make "the greatest possible aesthetic impact on the audience present at festivities. Described in terms of light and brilliance, the beauty of ritual objects [...]" was ultimately "a sign that cosmological security had been given", not least as the Sulka people did not make a distinction between the beautiful and the divine. "The beautiful makes it possible, in a certain sense, to grasp the divine." (loc. cit.)

Sulka art possesses an ethereal beauty which in many respects seems the embodiment of André Breton's description of Oceanic art as "the sky, the bird and the dream." Made almost entirely of ephemeral plant matter, very few Sulka masks of the age, quality, and preservation of the present lot survive in either institutional or private collections. A similar mask to the present lot was once in the collection which André Breton formed with Paul Eluard; the two surrealist poets were compelled to sell the collection in July 1931 at the Hotel Drouot, Paris. That mask, which appears in Breton’s Nadja, is now in the ‘Witnesses to a Surrealist Vision’ installation at the Menil Collection, Houston (X 0073). Another, from the collection of the legendary Modern art dealer Ernst Beyeler, is in the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen (Inv. O.97.1).