This bark-cloth dance mask is from the Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guinea. The bark-cloth is painted black, white and red, and stretched over a frame of thin sticks. Thin cane strips have been stitched on to outline the different sections of color. The mask shows characteristic triangle detailing of masks from the Elema group of the Orokolo Bay area in the Gulf of Papua. These masks were generally created for amusement and sometimes represented supernatural beings or humorous characters.
