A Man of the Sandwich Islands, in a Mask

by John Webber

$600 · Offered by Donald A. Heald Rare Books

John Webber, R.A. was born in London of Swiss parents. He was the draughtsman on Captain Cook's third and final voyage to the South Seas. In this intriguing portrait, Webber depicted the strange ritual masks the natives wore, which Cook described thus: It is a kind of mask, made of a large gourd with holes cut in it for eyes and nose. The top was stuck full of small green twigs that, at a distance, had the appearance of an elegant waving plume, and from the lower part hung narrow strips of

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