Production
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when
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around 1890
lor | Photographer: Axel Killian | Rights management: Städtische Museen Freiburg
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 InternationalThe face of this mask, primed in white, is designed with fine lines in blue and red paint over the cheeks and eyebrows, as well as with triangles in red and black. Its expression derives from the mask's long, pointed chin, the straight nose and the wide protruding forehead. Raffia fibres provide the ample head of hair. The mask was made by the Tolai, the coastal inhabitants of the Gazelle Peninsula, which is part of New Britain. It probably represents a spirit of the dead and plays a role in ritual mask dances.