Punu - Gabon, Ngouniè River Region Mask Mukudj.soft wood with natural patina, kaolin and pigments.Shortcomings and signs of use. . Cm 20,00 x 28,00 x 15,00. The Mukudj masks of the Punu, beautiful and very requested by the collectors market, make think of oriental masks for the expression of the slightly oblique slit eyes and for the abundant kaolin with which they are originally covered. In reality they are funerary masks representing the face of a young deceased woman and were used in all funeral ceremonies by dancers on stilts that made spectacular evolutions threatening bystanders with verses and with fly-swatters to fuck more subjection. They also served as reliquary figures, as at the Fang.Of beautiful workmanship and refined smoothing, splendid for silhouette of the profile, this old mask has unfortunately suffered a lot from the time and brings trace of it with its shortcomings, to the lip and ear. Under the abundant still present kaolin is visible a dense brownish-red colouring, perhaps legacy of the use of this mask also for functions of public order.