Punu mask from Gabon. Over 40 years old. Piece on base.

The Punu (also called Bapunu, plural of Mupunu) form an ethnic group mainly distributed in the south of Gabon. The Punu migrated to southern Gabon (into the Ngounié basin) in the 18th century. They live in independent villages divided into clans and families. Social cohesion is ensured by the Moukouji society, whose essential role is to subjugate the evil spirits of the forest. Their language is Yipunu. People who speak Yipunu are mainly found in the provinces of Ngounié and Nyanga. The major concentrations are the towns of Mouila, Ndendé (Ngounié); Tchibanga and Moabi (Nyanga). Today, we must add cities like Lambaréné (Moyen-Ogooué) and even the country's capital Libreville. In number of speakers, Yipunu ranks second, after the Fang language. In Gabon, in the Ngounié basin, the mukuyi commemorates the deceased. Mounted on huge stilts, a masked dancer, whose body is hidden under a cloth garment - formerly in raffia - performs acrobatic figures while brandishing a fly swatter with each hand. The mukuyi masks are supposed to represent ancestors, sometimes female. The enigmatic face of the mask is slightly triangular. Beneath the closed, almond-shaped eyes, as though swollen with sleep, the high cheekbones are rounded. The number and arrangement of scarifications vary from one style or ethnic group to another. The most common pattern, in the form of scales, includes nine rhombuses. This distinctive sign, called mabinda, was engraved in the flesh of children around the age of ten to fourteen. The Punu live mainly in Gabon. They are renowned for the mysterious beauty of their masks with their white face painted with kaolin and the extreme delicacy of their line. Their masks present their ideal of feminine beauty. They express the serenity of the elders who protect and advise them from the realm of the dead. They are used by dancers during funeral rites. The black masks have a judicial function. The frontal or temporal scarifications in the shape of a diamond of nine points represent their cosmogony and evoke the notion of perfection and wisdom. The central point is the creative principle (God) which gave birth to the four cardinal points (the world) as well as to the two primordial couples (humans)