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Details / Information for Yam Mask

Yam Mask

1900s

Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Abelam People, 20th century

Medium
pigment, basketry
Measurements
Overall: 47.3 x 44.3 x 14.7 cm (18 5/8 x 17 7/16 x 5 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Nathaniel Sloane in memory of Rose White 1998.84
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

Abelam men compete in growing extraordinarily large yams (over a meter in length), which they then display, adorned with basketry masks.
A mask features a headdress like a semi-circle with yellow-green, red-orange, and black bands arcing over the head alternating with white zigzags, the background showing through the gaps. For the face, two roughly oval sides tent up at the center with concentric circles like eyes on either side, first black, then red-orange, then cream, and then several yellow-mustard before an overarching black band circles the face. Ears made from an -red orange circle within a cream circle flank the face.

Yam Mask

1900s

Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Abelam People, 20th century

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