Post #798666 by uncle trav on Sat, Nov 16, 2019 3:22 PM

Hi everyone. I just scored this carving today for $25 and couldn’t pass it up. It’s in the style of a PNG mask. Well executed in my opinion. Deep relief and correctly painted and given a nice reproduction patina. It measures 24” x 11” so it is a nice display size. Carved out of two pieces of hardwood joined together and is flat on the back. At some point it was through nailed to a wall in two spots and the wire hanger was added later. I’m pretty sure this is not an original tourist tribal piece. If it’s a hobbyist piece it is really well done. I’m leaning toward a production piece from maybe Oceanic Arts or Bensons for restaurant decor but I may be all wrong. We did have the Tur Mai Kai Polynesian restaurant here in Kalamazoo that was entirely outfitted by Oceanic Arts in 1969. So I’m thinking this may have been in the restaurant as it was affixed to a wall at some point with nails so it wouldn't walk out the door. If it were just a hobby piece I believe it would have had a wall hanger put on it for easy hanging. The wood is dried and has small shrinkage splits and a good amount of crud on it so it has been around a good many years. Unfortunately I have no backstory on the mask. It was found less than a mile from where the Tur Mai Kai once stood. My wishful thinking tells me this is from the TMK but I may never be sure. Any input on the piece would be of great help. Wow! I can really ramble on about an old piece of junk!

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2019-11-16 15:45 ]