Skip to main content
Collections Menu
SAM'S collection
Photo: Paul Macapia
Mask
Photo: Paul Macapia

Mask

Label TextA heroic nose Masks from New Caledonia are renowned for their perplexing features. Mantles of black plumes are made from feathers of local pigeons that live in deep forests. Headdresses are made using hair from men who let it grow throughout a designated period when mourning a dead relative. Enormous noses, however, are their hallmark. One mythic explanation for this feature is the legend of Azyu, a cultural hero murdered by enemies who tore off his nose and tongue. When his mother tried to bring him back to life, he refused out of shame over his appearance. After traveling to the Land of the Dead, Azyu sent a similar mask back to New Caledonia to remind everyone of the life they had sacrificed.
Object number81.17.1440
Provenance[Furman Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1962; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981
Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Untold Story, Nov. 14, 2003 - Nov. 14, 2004.Published ReferencesKahn, Miriam. "Art of Oceania, Mesoamerica, and the Andes." In Selected Works, pp. 55-58. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 56, reproduced.
Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
MediumCloth and feathers
Photo: Susan Cole
Melanesian
Object number: 81.17.1469
Photo: Paul Macapia
Melanesian
Object number: 81.17.1492
Gable mask
Melanesian
Object number: 65.78
Photo: Paul Macapia
Ejagham
1973
Object number: 81.17.1977
Congolese
Object number: 2001.48
Congolese
Object number: 2001.49
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
20th century
Object number: 2012.29.14
Huxwhukw'iwe' (mask of the Huxwhukw)
Willie Seaweed (Hilamas)
ca. 1938
Object number: 91.1.2
Photo: Scott Leen
1999
Object number: 2024.19.121
Gela Mask (The Ancient One)
Wee
Object number: 81.17.193