*Masque Mukuyé, Punu Gabon Suite du lot précédent Female face painted with kaolin, with forehead and temples decorated by diamond-shaped scarifications highlighted in red padouk, as is the mouth. The headdress is combed into two chignons and two lateral bunches, and has been charred black. Its edge is indicated by a slender band of reddish ochre curving over the rounded forehead and ending behind the half-moon ears ; the back of the headdress ends in a parrot's beak overhanging a fastener for an ornament at the throat. There are two holes in the collar to secure it. Inside the mask, the adze has left beautiful markings in the grain of the wood. This mask brings together all of the characteristics of Punu high-style white masks : a tall black-lacquered headdress with wavy braids, domed forehead, fish-scale scarifications, and perfect balance in the carved wooden features-as remarkable for the eyebrows and deep-set eyes as for the delicate nose and mouth. The veiled gaze confers an air of mystery and intense inwardness to the mask. This type of mask, used in mourning rituals, evokes a young woman's spirit. In the Gabonese belief system, white is the color of reincarnation ; hence, the first whites arriving in the region were mistaken for ghosts. Hidden under a voluminous costume, the dancer was often mounted on stilts and armed with a whip and a machete. Depending on the ritual, the mask could be so menacing that the audience would flee in fear ; in other cases it provoked hilarity. Numerous details attest to the great age of the mask, which was already in the Saltwood Castle collection (See : Sotheby's sale, London, 12 July 1977) in the 19th century. 280000 / 360000 €