African Arts Gallery

The African Punu masks wear elaborate headdresses made of braided shells that highlight the softness of the physiognomies.
Height on base: 42 cm. Abraded matte patina, erosions.
The white masks of Gabon, itengi, (pl. bitengi) were associated with the various secret societies of Gabon, including the Bwiti, Bwete, and the Mwiri ("to lead"), the latter being spread out over several levels of initiation, to which all Punu men belonged, and whose emblem was the caiman (hence, for some, the motif with saurian scales). This object, evoking a deceased young woman, was exhibited during the dance called Okuyi. These powerful secret societies, which also had a judicial function, included several dances, including the leopard dance, the Esomba, the Mukuyi or the Okuyi depending on the location, an acrobatic dance on stilts, remaining the most widespread. In some villages, at dawn or dusk, the Okuyi was accompanied by songs in an esoteric language that only the initiated could understand. (Punu, L. Perrois and C. Grand-Dufay)