Punu Wood Mukudj Mask, Based

A white face with half-closed eyes and a faint smile, under a crest of black hair swept up like a helmet.

This mukudj mask is Punu, from Gabon, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is wood, pigment and cloth. Punu white-faced masks are generally associated with dancers on stilts, and the white kaolin face is often said to evoke an idealized female beauty. Here a central crest of black hair is carved with fine diagonal lines. A raised cluster of diamond marks sits on the forehead, with scarification at the temples. Braided fiber hangs at the sides, and red cloth edges the face. It is 6 inches wide, 5.5 deep and 15.75 high.

Serene, and entirely aware of it.