Southwest Bay, Malekula Island, Vanuatu
Circa 1930
Cane, palm fiber, overmodeled clay, red ocher, charcoal, white lime, boar's tusks
Height: 27½ in (70 cm)
Provenance: Field collected in 1963 by Nicolai Michoutouchkine; American East Coast private collection
Temes or temes nevimbur refers to a category of ritual objects — masks, puppets, and dance staffs — used in the Nimangki secret society initiation ceremonies of Malekula Island, where they were deployed to represent powerful spirits and enact mythological narratives. These masks were constructed over a complex armature of cane and palm fiber, the face overmodeled in clay and painted with natural pigments, and were worn or displayed during ceremonies that marked the progression of initiates through the grades of the Nimangki system. Nicolai Michoutouchkine, who field-collected this mask in 1963, spent decades in Vanuatu and became one of the most significant documentarians of Malekula ceremonial culture.
This example is distinguished by its striated conical crown, banded in alternating red ocher and white lime in a chevron pattern, surmounted by a woven checkerboard terminal. The face is adorned with a prominent pair of boar's tusks at the lower register, the curved ivory arcing outward from the chin in a form that signals chiefly authority across much of Vanuatu. The overmodeled facial features are painted in the characteristic Malekula palette of red, white, and black, the surface coherent and the tusks intact.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Southwest Bay, Malekula Island, Vanuatu
Circa 1930
Cane, palm fiber, overmodeled clay, red ocher, charcoal, white lime, boar's tusks
Height: 27½ in (70 cm)
Provenance: Field collected in 1963 by Nicolai Michoutouchkine; American East Coast private collection
Temes or temes nevimbur refers to a category of ritual objects — masks, puppets, and dance staffs — used in the Nimangki secret society initiation ceremonies of Malekula Island, where they were deployed to represent powerful spirits and enact mythological narratives. These masks were constructed over a complex armature of cane and palm fiber, the face overmodeled in clay and painted with natural pigments, and were worn or displayed during ceremonies that marked the progression of initiates through the grades of the Nimangki system. Nicolai Michoutouchkine, who field-collected this mask in 1963, spent decades in Vanuatu and became one of the most significant documentarians of Malekula ceremonial culture.
This example is distinguished by its striated conical crown, banded in alternating red ocher and white lime in a chevron pattern, surmounted by a woven checkerboard terminal. The face is adorned with a prominent pair of boar's tusks at the lower register, the curved ivory arcing outward from the chin in a form that signals chiefly authority across much of Vanuatu. The overmodeled facial features are painted in the characteristic Malekula palette of red, white, and black, the surface coherent and the tusks intact.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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