Black Okuyi Mask - Punu People, Gabon

Authentic so-called black Punu masks are rare, with masks of this exceptional quality limited to less than a dozen. For related black Punu masks see Perrois (1979: figure 258) for a mask formerly in the Helena Rubinstein Collection; (ibid.: figure 264) for another; (ibid.: figure 270) for one formerly in the Vlaminck Collection; Roy (1992: figure 101) for one in the Stanley Collection; Robbins and Nooter (1989: 353, figure 915) for one in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; (ibid.: 355, figure 920) for another in the Mnuchin Collection.

So, although this mask has a great provenance, and is so well carved, looking just like the used ones, we believe it must be a really well done copy.
The mask displays many of the stylistic attributes of the more common white masks of similar refinement and quality.
According to Perrois (1979: 235) the black patina on Punu masks is presumably an index of its more serious or darker role in judiciary services, potentially condemning the living, whereas Punu masks layered in white kaolin are used in celebrations and funerary ceremonies, where the white surface marked them as ushers of the other world.

While the white-faced masks produced by the peoples of the Ogowe basin appear frequently in collections outside of Africa, black masks in the same style are quite rare. Among the Galoa and the Ivili of the lower Ngounie River, white okuyi initiation masks are painted black to transform them temporarily into judgement masks with the power to discover witches (Perrois 1979:253).

These equatorial forest peoples live along the Ogowe and Ngounie River region of southwest Gabon. The hairstyles of the Okuyi masks recall the way the women did their hair, as does the traditional scarification designs The dancers walk on stilts, hidden beneath a mass of cloth. Worn by men, the mask represents the spirit of a dead person and appears chiefly during mourning ceremonies.

Height: 12" x Width: 7" and Depth: 8".
It is 19" tall on its custom wooden display stand.

Ex. Dr. Gilbert Jackson, MD collection.