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Mask (Eharo)

Arts of the Pacific Islands

CULTURE Elema
MEDIUM Bark cloth, cane, wood, pigment
DATES 19th or early 20th century
DIMENSIONS 30 3/4 x 50 1/4 in. (78.1 x 127.6 cm)  (show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER 68.187
CREDIT LINE Anonymous gift
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Conical helmet mask of bark cloth (tapa) over a cane frame. Mask represents a bat with large projecting "ears" or wings. Top of mask ends in tapering cone with wood sticks projecting and a flat disc attached. Bird type beak, open with teeth made of wooden spikes. Eyes are 2 concentric circles of cane, padded bulge on forehead. Masks of brown/black tape except for strip of dull red running horizontally from wing tip to wing tip and bordered with cane. Strips of cloth hand from bottom edges of wings.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Elema. Mask (Eharo), 19th or early 20th century. Bark cloth, cane, wood, pigment, 30 3/4 x 50 1/4 in. (78.1 x 127.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 68.187. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.187_view2_SL4.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 68.187_view2_SL4.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2014
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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