• Wayne Heathcote (dealer in tribal art) New York or Coconut Grove, Miami, or Buckinghamshire
• John & Marcia Friede, New York

Very little has been recorded regarding the brightly painted bulbous masks of the Yuat River. While their use by the Biwat people is not clear, these masks are known to have been traded and incorporated into ceremonies and performances by other communities on the Sepik River itself, particularly in association with initiation rites. This mask is quite likely to represent a bush spirit maindjimi or a water spirit saki, like masks elsewhere along the Sepik River, each depicted a particular spirit and had a personal name.
The mask’s surface appears to have been created without the use of metal tools. Radiocarbon dating of the mask reveals it to be of considerable age, perhaps as much as 300 years old but certainly prior to the beginning of the twentieth century.

Very little has been recorded regarding the brightly painted bulbous masks of the Yuat River. While their use by the Biwat people is not clear, these masks are known to have been traded and incorporated into ceremonies and performances by other communities on the Sepik River itself, particularly in association with initiation rites. This mask is quite likely to represent a bush spirit maindjimi or a water spirit saki, like masks elsewhere along the Sepik River, each depicted a particular spirit and had a personal name.
The mask’s surface appears to have been created without the use of metal tools. Radiocarbon dating of the mask reveals it to be of considerable age, perhaps as much as 300 years old but certainly prior to the beginning of the twentieth century.