250835 - African Okuyi Punu dance mask - Gabon.

African Okuyi Punu dance mask, Gabon.

Hand carved from a single piece of wood. 

Total Height: 60 cm (with Raffia) and only the wooden mask 22 cm.

This Punu mask is dated second half of the 20th century and comes with a certificate of authenticity.

Wooden initiation mask from the PUNU tribe, Gabon. PUNU masks are believed to represent the faces of ancestors. They are worn during funerals and by a Moukouji initiate who stands on stilts. These masks have a realistic face with protruding, pursed lips, a T-shaped nose, bulbous, prominent eyes with an incisive curve, a high forehead, and a characteristic, ridged, high hairstyle, reflecting the style of PUNU women. Good condition. The mask has a full raphia around it.

PUNU mask (pronounced pounou) from Okuyi dance. The Punu are a 'Bantu' people from Central Africa, mainly located in the south of Gabon. Social cohesion is ensured by the 'Moukanji' society, whose essential role is to subdue the evil spirits of the forest. The eyes in fine curved palpebral slits. This striped hairstyle, combined with side quilts, represents the braided braids of Punu women. The face is powdered with white kaolin "itengi" (white clay mixed with powder from broken bones of the deceased), due to his age he still has a little left. Color of mourning, which links to the world of spirits and ancestors.

This example is missing the "mabinda" chessboard scarifications that symbolize the nine clans at the origin of the Congo Kingdom.