The atolls of the Mortlock Islands are the only place in Micronesia where masks were made. They depict the benevolent spirit Tapuanu, who protects the precious breadfruit crop from typhoons. During the year they were kept safely in the men's house to be brought out once a year and incorporated into a ritual dance.
The rigid, reduced form of the face mask is underlined by the monochrome painting in black and white. In the case of the Freiburg specimen, the white limestone chalk coating has flaked off to a large extent, also missing is the round extension to the side as a normal appurtenance of such masks, which represents the topknot of the Micronesian male hairstyle.
The object was collected by Lieutenant Captain Paul Werber from Freiburg, 1st Officer in the Imperial Navy who sailed the South Seas for a total of two years on the S.M.S. Cormoran and donated about 100 objects from various regions of Oceania to the museum.