Mask (Kavat)
Central Baining (Uramot or Kairak Subgroup)
1 of 3
Object Label
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.
Caption
Central Baining (Uramot or Kairak Subgroup). Mask (Kavat), late 19th or early 20th century. Barkcloth, pigment, cane, 50 x 11 x 29 in. (127 x 27.9 x 73.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Thomas and Katherine Brush, 1994.142. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Mask (Kavat)
Date
late 19th or early 20th century
Geography
Place made: Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea
Medium
Barkcloth, pigment, cane
Classification
Dimensions
50 x 11 x 29 in. (127 x 27.9 x 73.7 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Thomas and Katherine Brush
Accession Number
1994.142
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