Burial mask

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Description

silver alloy (96 %), base

The oval mask is made of thinly hammered sheet silver, with cut-out eyes and mouth. The eyes and edge of the mask are surrounded with bulging repoussé dots. Pairs of drilled holes on the sides and another on the upper edge, probably for fastening.

These masks were placed on the body over a silk face cover. They are often made of silver, a revered sacred material, like the present example.

Comparable funeral masks from the Kama River region in the Urals have been published by Margolis, cf. Margolis, 2023, pp. 85 and 86. See also Ron Bronckers, 2021, p. 74, fig. 4 and p. 76, fig. 7.

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Comparing literature

Margolis, Richard, Ancient Bronze Art and Ethnographic Objects from Siberia and the Urals, Seattle 2023 Ron Bronckers, "Masks of the Evenki and Magyar - New Connections", p. 79, fig. 13, in Tribal XXV:3-Number 100, Summer 2021, p. 72-81 Ivanov, S., Ancient Masks of Siberian Peoples, Leningrad 1975

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