MASK

The sharp nose of this mask is a characteristic feature of masks from the Coastal Sepik River and the Ramu River Delta. Discussing a closely related mask attributed to the Ramu River Delta, Peltier notes that "this mask is not attributable to any particular spirit, but rather is simply animated by the spirit which one wishes to invoke during the dance." (Peltier, Schindlbeck, and Kaufmann, eds., Sepik. Arts de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, Paris, 2015, p. 252, cat. no. 131). That mask, now in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Dresden (inv. no. 15121) was collected in 1899. See Kelm, Kunst vom Sepik III, Berlin, 1968, n.p., cat. no. 150, for another closely related mask in the collection of the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin (inv. no. VI 30 469), collected by Richard Neuhauss in 1909 from the Lower Sepik village of Singarin.