Couple’s quarrel: Get rid of this mask!

ES sends me a Sepik River mask – very large – from Papua New Guinea. This mask is causing trouble in her marriage, she writes me. Her partner jumped on her email: Help! Elizabeth! This thing is a problem!

ES bought it in a thrift store, and must hang it in her office because her partner is frightened by the thing and will not have it in their home. It’s 21” long, of carved and painted wood, with an elongated anthropomorphic face, with extensive shell inlay and a top crest of applied tail feathers, horsehair, and a large nose with bone nose rings. Some of the shells have been eaten away by what I suspect are rats, as the clay and dung compound used to affix these shells is attractive to vermin. Maybe ES’s partner is right about hanging it in their home, but read on, and you will find these masks have a beauty beyond what is considered decorative.

Sepik masks come in styles that are distinguished by their region. The majority comes from the East Sepik Province. Traditionally, women aren’t allowed to see them. Another reason why ES’s partner is right about this mask in a marriage situation. Whatever their function, they empower. They empower flue music, they empower canoes, they empower the gods of the house, and they empower crops. They empower men.

They can be worn as a tiny amulet, or can be huge, and part of an entire dancing costume. When they’re not ‘danced’ they are hidden in the Hausman. They’re not allowed to be viewed unless it’s time. And they’re not allowed to be viewed by any man who’s not in the cult of the mask. When the right ceremony happens, the masks are ‘danced’ and the wearer becomes the spirit of the mask. So they’re powerful and not to be trifled with.

You might notice various piercing in the side of the mask, and this is to attach the mask to a man, who actually takes the cross member into his mouth and bites that stick to hold the mask on his body.

Here’s the hard appraisal part: masks that have been part of a ceremony are usually older, spookier, and always more valuable then the masks made for the tourist market, which began in the mid-20th century. These indigenous masks can be very valuable, but it takes more of a connoisseur than me to tell the difference between old tourist masks and the ‘danced’ masks.

Many Sepik masks exist. New Guinea is the biggest producer of masks in the world, and not just from the Sepik River area. New Guinea masks can be made of fiber, or simple planks of wood, and can be haunting and terrifying. What these simple masks can evoke is beyond description, and can add so much to a modern décor, if you have the guts. I know enough to know that the “real’ masks have a presence no one can define.

However, what ES owns is one of those tourist trade modern Middle Sepik mask, and thankfully, it’s not made of a part of an endangered species, such as those I have seen from a huge fresh water turtle shell.

Now, her partner asks me, how does ES sell it? Auction houses aren’t the most knowledgeable, and most serious buyers know each other individually. Paris has been a center of the mask trade for decades. Collectors usually collect from one specific region. Each region has a distinctive style and medium- and value. Yet prices paid vary from a few hundred dollars to many thousands.

As in any object collected, appraisers look for condition, rarity, history or age, and the design and composition of the object. Masks are no different, except few appraisers know the difference between a nice tourist object and the “danced” mask. Once you make a deal to sell the mask, often you need to have the piece fumigated and checked for non-salable materials in the composition. Often, if these pieces get reinspected by postal services, their smell gives them away and they will be quarantined.

Like any material that is oceanic, some of the most knowledgeable experts are in Australia. So there you are, ES’s partner. You night have to give the mask away for a wedding present to get rid of it. Why not pass on the joy? My best guess for value is about $300.