Sebug brag mask, Lower Sepik, Papua New Guinea Wood Height: 37 cm Provenance: Dr. E. Haberland Dr. E. Haberland (Völkerkunde Institute, Manheim, 1960) Lemaire Gallery, Amsterdam Spanish private collection Literature: Fundacio Caixa Girona, Els ancestres dels Mars del Sud, 2007. Exhibition: Fundacio Caixa Girona, Els ancestres dels Mars del Sud, 2007 Inscribed in a broad, convex oval of beautiful regularity, the balance of the features structured by the marked median ridge, the imposing nose in relief, whose linear continuity divides the rounded forehead into two parts. The intensity of the gaze gives the mask a fabulous presence. The hollowed-out, almond-shaped eyes, stretched towards the temples and magnified by the slightly raised rim, stare deeply into the viewer's eyes. The eyes are set with cowrie shells, the patina nuanced, reddish-brown. The modelling is intensified by the beautiful brown shaded patina. Belonging to the classical corpus, widespread in the region around the mouth of the Sepik, this type of Brag mask Brag was, according to recent research on Murik art, an intermediary between the members of the initiation society and the ancestor (cf. Lipset, 2005: 109-140), generally placed on a mobile support against a wall inside the ceremonial house, or sometimes integrated into a dancer's costume during ceremonies, they were preciously preserved.