Early Baining Island Tapa
19th Century
Height 47" Width 34" Including frame
Provenance: John and Marcia Freide, Rye, NY
This early tapa is from a dramatic bark cloth kavat mask, used exclusively in the night dance, a nocturnal performance lit by firelight. The Central Baining practice both day dance and night dance rites. The day dance, accompanied by an orchestra of women, is devoted to female fertility, agriculture, and the mourning of the dead, phenomena typically associated with the community. The night dance, by contrast, is accompanied by a male orchestra and dedicated to spirits, animals, and commodities associated with the surrounding forest, which are represented by the kavat masks. Several dozen forms of kavat masks exist, each of which depicts a spirit linked with a specific animal, plant, product, or activity associated with the forest. A rare early and important tapa from a monumental mask.
19th Century
Height 47" Width 34" Including frame
Provenance: John and Marcia Freide, Rye, NY
This early tapa is from a dramatic bark cloth kavat mask, used exclusively in the night dance, a nocturnal performance lit by firelight. The Central Baining practice both day dance and night dance rites. The day dance, accompanied by an orchestra of women, is devoted to female fertility, agriculture, and the mourning of the dead, phenomena typically associated with the community. The night dance, by contrast, is accompanied by a male orchestra and dedicated to spirits, animals, and commodities associated with the surrounding forest, which are represented by the kavat masks. Several dozen forms of kavat masks exist, each of which depicts a spirit linked with a specific animal, plant, product, or activity associated with the forest. A rare early and important tapa from a monumental mask.
19th Century
Height 47" Width 34" Including frame
Provenance: John and Marcia Freide, Rye, NY
This early tapa is from a dramatic bark cloth kavat mask, used exclusively in the night dance, a nocturnal performance lit by firelight. The Central Baining practice both day dance and night dance rites. The day dance, accompanied by an orchestra of women, is devoted to female fertility, agriculture, and the mourning of the dead, phenomena typically associated with the community. The night dance, by contrast, is accompanied by a male orchestra and dedicated to spirits, animals, and commodities associated with the surrounding forest, which are represented by the kavat masks. Several dozen forms of kavat masks exist, each of which depicts a spirit linked with a specific animal, plant, product, or activity associated with the forest. A rare early and important tapa from a monumental mask.