PUNU MASK Light wood, kaolin - 29 cm Gabon This is one of the nest example of Okuyi portrait- mask. The clear naturalism of this mask argues for a southern origin among the Punu. The sculptor carefully gave the mask feminine attributes such as the hairstyle and the delicacy of the facial features. The white color, however, is genderless: it symbolizes the afterlife and the spirits of the dead. For an other comparable example sharing the same juvenile expression and without scari cations see the mask collected in 1960 and formerly in the Philippe Guimiot Collection and Count Baudouin de Grunne Collection (in L. Perrois, C. Grand-Durfy, Punu, pl. 27, Milan, 2008). Provenance: Collected by Boris Kegel-Konietzko in 1959. Boris Kegel-Konietzko Collection European collection, acquired from Above in 2010 – Certificate by Mr Boris Kegel-Konietzko