Yam painted wooden mask, Sepik River, PNG. Oceania, Papua New Guinea, Eastern Sepik, Southern Abelam people, circa early 20th century. Mask made from balsa wood, with an abstract face painted in shades of black and red. The round face has a marked widow's peak above straight eyebrows, bulging eyes, a narrow nose with flared nostrils and full lips that fall downwards. It was created for festivals dedicated to yam, the essential crop of the Abelam people of north-east Papua New Guinea. Masks like this one were traditionally used to adorn the heads of gigantic tubers, not those of humans. An old attached label, dating from around 1900/1914, bearing the words "Yam cult head, Mosera". Dimensions: W. 13.5 cm; H. 19 cm (excluding base included).