A superb and ancient mask, whose presence as well as its patina places it undoubtedly among the most beautiful examples of this famous and small corpus, whose precise use and function are still poorly known even if the traditional character of some of these masks seems to be well established. The nose made of curved and folded vegetable fiber and then tied to the bone seems to be missing here, as it is also the case on the mask from the Max Ernst collection (see in Myth & Magic: Art of the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea from the National Gallery of Australia page 91), but this does not hinder the reading of the mask in any way, and even on the contrary, we would be tempted to write, the lack of the nose is not obvious on this example. Adjora or Aion people, Porapora River region, East Sepik province, Papua New Guinea Bone (frontal section of a pig skull), vegetable fibers and cassowary feathers, superb patina of use H. 26 cm. approximately with feathers Provenance: - Collected by Pierre Langlois and Marcel Évrard - Former collection of Marcel Évrard