West New Britain Nataptavo Mask-Christensen Collection-Seymour Lazar-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Art
At the very westernmost tip of West New Britain lies the village of Kilenge, right on the coast facing the Dampier Strait. The people here dance masks for both male initiation and to place spiritual taboos on foodstuff such as coconuts that need to be set aside for spiritual or communal ceremonies. One such mask is the Nataptavo featured here. Made from coconut bast stretched on a frame and worn with a mass of banana leaves covering the body—see one Philip Dark photographed in 1964. Its face has wooden ears and nose with a coconut shell mouth—black cassowary feathers sprout out of one side of the head. The present example is from the Allen Christensen Collection and sold by Sotheby’s Sydney in October 1996, lot 150—Christensen’s inventory number CC60976 is painted in white on the inside. The mask is also ex. Seymour Lazar Collection. It dates to the early/mid 20th century, is 30 ½” (77.4 cm) in height. SOLD