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Details
- Other Titles
- Ceremonial clown mask
Timsank
Timpsonk
Timbsonk (cult mask) - Place where the work was made
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Mendi
→
Southern Highlands Province
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Papua New Guinea
- Cultural origin
- Mendi people
- Dates
- mid 20th century
collected 1963 - Media category
- Ceremonial object
- Materials used
- woven rattan, earth pigments, gold-lipped oyster shell (Pinctada maxima), bamboo, plant fibre, shells, burr seeds, machine-wove cotton fabric, plant fibre string, animal skin
- Dimensions
- woven mask 132.0 cm height; 48.0 to 52.0 cm diameter; figure 74.0 x 34.1 cm
- Credit
- Purchased 1977
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 241.1977.a-d
- Copyright
- © Mendi people, under the endorsement of the Pacific Islands Museums Association's (PIMA) Code of Ethics
- Artist information
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Mendi people
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
During the 1950s, the 'timp' cult swept through the Mendi Valley in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, traded from the south through gift-exchange. Ritual knowledge was acquired by cult sponsors in exchange for valuables. The transactions took place over several months and were accompanied by complex and highly secretive ceremonial events.
'Timp' was performed to control malicious 'towmow' (ancestral ghosts believed to bring sickness). The innards and fat from slaughtered pigs were cooked in earth ovens then distributed to cult inductees. Blood was collected and offered to the ghosts. Spells were recited and the pork eaten, after which the bones were gathered and placed in a bundled 'corpse' that mimicked the bound bones of deceased kin. The 'corpse' was then taken from the cult house and paraded before spectators, escorted by men wearing 'timpsonk' masks. Finally, it was buried, as interning the bones weakened the 'towmow'.
[entry from Exhibition Guide for 'Melanesian art: redux', 2018, cat no 39]
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Places
Where the work was made
Mendi
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Melanesian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Apr 1966–22 May 1966
Plumes and pearlshells: art of the New Guinea highlands, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 May 2014–10 Aug 2014
Melanesian art: redux, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Nov 2018–17 Feb 2019
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Bibliography
Referenced in 4 publications
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Trevor Shearston, Plumes and pearlshells: art of the New Guinea highlands, 'Timpsonk (cult mask)', pg. 58-61, Sydney, 2014, 15, 59 (colour illus.), 60, 159. cat.no. 7
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Tony Tuckson, Aboriginal and Melanesian art, Sydney, 1973, 47, 49. cat.no. H3
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Tony Tuckson, Melanesian art, Sydney, 1966, 18. cat.no. 252
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Natalie Wilson, Look, 'A myriad of artforms: rare and beautiful objects from the highlands of New Guinea', pg. 24-28, Sydney, May 2014, 27.
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