| Punu - Lumbu mask |
| Punu mask Early to mid 20th century 11" tall x 7" wide Provenance: From a private Rhode Island Collection THIS MASK IS NO LONGER IN MY COLLECTION, it has been sold on www.RandTribal.com |
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| Images and information below for reference purposes. |
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| Face Mask - Punu, Gabon Arman Collection Wood, polychrome; H. 30.5 cm. Formerly in the Tranpisch Collection. Formerly in the A. Fourquet Collection. Publications: — L. Perrois, Arts du Gabon, 1979, no. 264. — A. Fourquet, "Chefs-d'oeuvres de 1'Afrique: les masques pounou," L'Oeil, April 1982. From the book: African Faces, African Figures - The Arman Collection |
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| SOTHEBY'S AFRICAN, OCEANIC AND PRE-COLUMBIAN ART SALE N08029 AUCTION DATE 11 Nov 04 LOCATION New York LOT 104 A FINE AND RARE PUNU MASK ESTIMATE 30,000—50,000 USD Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 28,800 USD MEASUREMENTS height 11 1/4 in. 28.5cm DESCRIPTION of overall graceful proportions and hollowed, oval form, the protruding demi-lune lips beneath the naturalistic nose framed by squinting eyes, arching brows and ears folded forword, the forehead with a deeply serrated medial ridge and wearing a striated coiffure in a crested topknot framed by delicate tresses, the whole surrounded by a flange at the perimeter; fine blackened and slightly encrusted patina. PROVENANCE Madame Schwob, Brussels Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York, May 1974 EXHIBITED Tervuren, Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Art d'Afrique dans les Collections Belges, June 29 - October 30, 1963, catalogue number 768 CATALOGUE NOTE The 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. The Rosenberg mask displays many of the stylistic attributes of the more common white masks of similar refinement and quality, said to be modeled after beautiful women in the community. 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 kaolin are used in celebrations and funerary ceremonies, where the white surface marked them as ushers of the other world. |
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| Black Punu mask Galerie J. Germain, Montreal |
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| Black Punu mask Private collection Paris Ex Alain de Monbrison Gallery |
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| Black Punu mask 28 cm Musee Dapper, Paris Photo H. Dubois |
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| PUNU, Gabon / Mask / Wood / H. 27.9 cm. (11") Stanley Collection 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. Perrois suggests that the difference in color may indicate a change in function. Among the Galoa and the Ivili of the lower Ngounie River, white okouyi initiation masks are painted black to transform them temporarily into judgement masks with the power to discover witches (Perrois 1979:253). Here, as in the white Punu mask in the Stanley Collection (below), the facial features are smooth, round, and naturalistic, with protuberant, crescent-shaped eyes; a large, domed forehead; delicate, slightly puckered lips; and a beautiful hairstyle. From the book: Art and Life in Africa - Selections from the Stanley Collection |
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| PUNU, Gabon / Mask / Wood / H. 29.8 cm. (12") Stanley Collection In the drainage basin of the Ogowe River, the Punu, Ashira, and Lumbo peoples use masks whose distinctive style has often been compared to the no masks of Japan. Most of these masks from the Equatorial Forests have white faces with brilliant red lips and often nine diamond-shaped scars on the forehead. The eyes are bulging half-moons. A number of different elaborate hairstyles are represented. There have been many reports concerning the function of these masks. Hans Himmelheber (1960: ill. p.309) indicated that the masks are worn by men who dance on stilts and carry a whip. They represent the spirit of a dead woman returned from the land of the dead. The Swedish missionary Efraim Andersson saw a similar mask in Zanaga village in the Kota area; there the mask was used in funeral ceremonies and in an ancestral cult (Andersson 1953: 346). Several early reports state that the masks belong to a society called mukui. Although the features are indeed accurate representations of the Punu ideals of female beauty (the horizontal lines between nostrils and ears represent small chains worn as jewelry in the area) white is the color of death. From the book: Art and Life in Africa - Selections from the Stanley Collection Below are examples of white Punu masks with similar forehead scarifications for reference |
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| SOTHEBY'S SALE - THE SECRET GARDEN OF MARIANNE AND PIERRE NAHON LE JARDIN SECRET DE MARIANNE ET PIERRE NAHON ART MODERNE & CONTEMPORAIN, ARTS DÉCORATIFS DU XXE SIÈCLE, ART AFRICAIN ET LIVRES MODERNES SALE PF4098 AUCTION DATE 18 Jul 04 2:00 PM. LOCATION Vence LOT 130 MASQUE, PUNU/TSANGUI, GABON [A PUNU/TSANGUI MASK, GABON] ESTIMATE 8,000—12,000 EUR Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 7,200 EUR MEASUREMENTS haut. 30 cm, 11 3/4 in DESCRIPTION Ce masque constitue un très bel exemple du style développé en pays Tsangui, à la frontière du Gabon et du Congo. Le visage inscrit dans un ovale régulier est orné des scarifications caractéristiques, une longue bande horizontale parcourant le milieu du visage, une autre, en "T" inversé, gravée sur le haut front bombé. Les traits sont sculptés avec une grande finesse, la ligne des yeux plissés et fendus répondant à celle fortement arquée des sourcils. La haute coiffure en dôme ajoute au très grand équilibre formel de ce masque. La face, à l'origine blanche, a été enduite d'un jus brun, ainsi que l'intérieur du masque. Condition Note: Légers éclats de surface. ROUGH TRANSLATION: This mask constitutes a very beautiful example of the style developed in Tsangui country, at the border of Gabon and Congo. The face registered in a regular oval is decorated characteristic scarifications, a long horizontal band traversing the medium of the face, another, in "T" reversed, engraved on the high face curvature. The features are carved with a large smoothness, the line of the folded and split eyes answering that strongly arched of the eyebrows. The haute coiffure in dome adds to the very great formal balance of this mask. The face, in the white beginning, was coated with a brown juice, as well as the interior of the mask. Condition Notes: Light glares of surface PROVENANCE Merton Simpson, New-York LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Reproduit dans Quelques Impressions d'Afrique, Château Notre-Dame des Fleurs, Vence, 1996, p. 287. |
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| White mask with jugal scarification Wood and pigment Height: 26 cm Ex-coll J. Mueller Musee Barbier-Mueller, Geneva (inventory # 1019.30) |
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| A Brown Punu mask from the Arman Collection H: 29.5 cm From the book: African Faces, African Figures The Arman Collection |
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| SOTHEBY'S THE BAUDOUIN DE GRUNNE COLLECTION OF AFRICAN ART SALE NY7473 AUCTION DATE 19 May 00 10:15 AM. LOCATION New York LOT 34 ESTIMATE 30,000—40,000 USD Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 45,600 USD A superb Punu mask height 12 in. (31.8cm.) of hollowed oval form, and pierced along the rim for attachment, the protruding diamond-shaped face with raised pursed lips and slit coffee bean eyes set deeply beneath the arching brows, the domed forehead beneath a tripartite coiffure, and framed by semicircular ears protruding to the sides; exceptionally fine encrusted kaolin patina on the face and encrusted blackened patina on the coiffure; collection reference no. 7. Provenance: Acquired from George Vidal, Paris, 1968 Exhibited: Brussels, Salles du Theatre National de Belgique, Arts Primitifs, 14 April-5 June, 1971 Brussels, SocietE Generale de Banque, Masques du Monde, 28 June-31 July, 1974 Brussels, Centre Culturel du Credit Communal de Belgique, Arts Premiers d'Afrique Noire, 5 March-17 April, 1977 Published: Claerhout, Arts Primitifs, 1971:no. 40, not illustrated Dorisinfang-Smets, Masques du Monde, 1974:no. 69 Guimiot, Arts Premiers d'Afrique Noire, 1977:83 These masks, okuyi, were carved in the likeness of the beautiful women who had inspired the carver. Like the actual women, some had scarification and others did not. Although women with scarification were admired for their strength in enduring this process, it was not a universal practice. See Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Sculpture from Africa and Oceania (1990: no. 57) for another fine example without scarification. The offered lot shows particularly sensitive treatment of the face. |
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SOTHEBY'S AFRICAN AND OCEANIC ART : STUDER-KOCH COLLECTION AND VARIOUS OWNERS SALE PF5006 AUCTION DATE 06 Jun 05 5:00 PM. LOCATION Paris LOT 42 EXCEPTIONNEL MASQUE, PUNU, GABON [An exceptional Punu mask, Gabon] ESTIMATE 200,000—250,000 EUR Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 594,400 EUR MEASUREMENTS haut. 28 cm alternate measurements 11 in DESCRIPTION Le visage, au modelé très raffiné, est sculpté sous un large front surmonté d'une coiffe à coques multiples disposées en étoile, les extrémités recourbées sur le pourtour du visage. Très grande délicatesse dans la gravure des traits : sourcils en léger relief, ombrés, yeux « en grain de café » quasiment clos, paupières à peine gonflées et fendues selon une courbe très tendue ; orbites en léger creux déterminant des pommettes bien marquées, nez à l’arête fine, bandeau frontal à décor finement strié. La bouche se distingue par sa facture remarquable, lèvres étirées vers l’avant, délicatement ourlées, légèrement ouverte, laissant entrevoir à la fois la langue et les dents - les incisives supérieures limées en biseau. L'usure dans l'enduit de kaolin (pembé) laisse apparaître un bois clair. Rehauts rouge foncé sur les lèvres et les scarifications à douze écailles, et noir sur la coiffe. Excellent état de conservation. ROUGH TRANSLATION: The face, with modelled very refined, is carved under a broad overcome face of a cap with multiple hulls laid out out of star, the ends bent on the circumference of the face. Very great delicacy in the engraving of the features: eyebrows in light relief, ombrés, eyes "in almost closed coffee bean", eyelids hardly inflated and split according to a very tended curve; orbits in light hollow determining of the well marked knobs, noses with the fine edge, frontal scarification with finely striated decoration. The mouth is characterized by its remarkable invoice, lips stretched forwards, delicately hemmed, the slightly open one, showing the possibility for at the same time the language and the teeth - the upper incisors filed in bevel. Wear in the kaolin coating (pembé) lets appear a clear wood. Appreciations dark red on the lips and scarifications with twelve scales, and black on the cap. Excellent state of conservation. PROVENANCE Collecté dans la région de Mouila par le Dr. F., médecin de l'école de Santé navale, spécialiste des maladies tropicales. Conservé depuis par la famille CATALOGUE NOTE From 1927 to 1930 Dr. F was attached to the Pasteur Lambaréné Institute, where he became acquainted with Dr. Schweitzer, who also worked in Gabon. It was likely that during this period Dr. F collected this mask. The offered “white” mask from Okuyi is highly unusual in the daring creativity found in its dimensions, particularly the coiffure. According to Perrois (personal communication, March 2005), “ even if it is rarely to be seen in statuary and masks of this type, the treatment of the coiffure and the carving on the face are not unknown in the South Gabon region where it was first found. The “multiple shell’s over lapping the face and the same type of coiffure have been seen in the Eshira tribe as well as in the Punu, the Lumbu and the Tshogo tribes, in regions stretching from the Fougamo region in Gabon, the Mouila and Mimongo, in the mountains of Mayombe, the hills of the high Ngounié, all the way to the edge of Congo Brazzaville.” Cf. a Lumbo statue (Felix, 1995: 145), an Eshira statue and a Tshogo mask from the Itzikovitz collection (Perrois, 1979: 257 and 38). According to Felix (1995 – Annexes), this coiffure could come from the ancient Bayaka of Loango (the “ pre – Punu’s”) as would be suggested by the appearance of the yaa style statues from Congo Brazzaville or the Lumbu “fetish” from the Gabonese/Congo coastal region (from Mayoumba to Pointe - Noire). See also Chauvet (1936: 8 and fig. 37 and 38) for another mask similar to the offered lot: both show filed upper teeth with a chamfered edge, an old tradition in the south of Gabon, notably in the in the Mayombe region (border of Gabon/Congo Brazzaville). In addition to the coiffure, the provenance and the appearance of filed teeth, the method the carver has fashioned the keloids (each motif is supposed to represent one of the twelve original tribes in the Punu-Bayaka tradition) suggests an origin in the region south of Mouila, towards Ndendé or Tchibanga, near to the mountain chain of Mayombe, according the Perrois (idem.). The undeniable age of this mask is shown by the following: the patina, reflecting great age the shape of the mouth—of an ‘ancient’ type according to Perrois (ibid.), also seen on a mask from the Chambon collection, Geneva, collected in 1905 by François Coppier (Perrois, 1979:242, ill. 257). Compare also with another mask from the collection of André Lhote, in the collection of the Dapper Museum, Paris (Dapper, 1995:87). This second mask shows a similar striated band across the brow. Specific stylistic and iconographic elements allow us to compare the offered lots with other masks and statues. However, the rarity of the type, and the exceptional beauty of this mask, make is highly unique. One can note specifically the dynamic modelling of the face as well as the plastic qualities. The artist has carved the face in very light relief, giving an expression of great serenity. The white masks of the Okuyi (also known under the name of Mukudji or Mukuyi). See also an explanation in the theses of Monique Koumba-Manfoumbi, 1987 and Alisa Lagamma, 1995. The masks serve in both community rituals and important events of the village. In certain cases, the masked dancers, perched on stilts, ritually confront each other at important discussions, each aided by his followers, to insist the point of view of one group onto the other. |
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| Photograph of a Punu masquerader on stilts Photo- Hoa-Qui This mask is worn in masquerades during funeral celebrations. The white color, a genderless attribute, signifies peace, the dieties, the spirts of the dead, and the afterlife. The domed forehead, high cheek bones, delicately etched eyes, high arched eyebrows, beautiful coiffure, and streamlined chin all represent feminine beauty of the Punu people. The scarification arranged in a lozenge on the forehead and the the hair style similar to a bivalve shell are also feminine attributes. It is said that the scarification has sexual meaning, an arguement that supports that that these masks are female representations. Those without sarification are said to be male. The lozenge generally is made up of nine fish scales. To the Punu people, the number nine in multiples of three has symbolic meaning, reoccuring in many rituals and ceremonies. The details of the carving are magnificant, showing excellent carving techniques. Click on the images to view this mask in more detail. One interpretation states that the incised line between the nose and the ears represents a decorative chain of jewelry. A dancer wears this mask, representing the spirit of a female ancestor, and a costume covering his entire body made of skins and raffia. The dancer tilts this mask forwardand preforms acrobatic tricks on the stilts, carrying a whip of dried grasses in each hand,creating unusual sounds. As this dancer towers over his spectators, he is said to be dancing between the living world and the world of the ancestors. (Seiber and Walker 80) (Ray) (Perrois) http://lists.village.virginia.edu/uvamesl/best_practices/dkf7c/ancestors.html |
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| For a fantastic reference on the Punu masks, I highly recommend the article "The White Masks of South Gabon" in the magazine ART TRIBAL - number 8 (part 1) and number 9 (part 2) |
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