Handle mask from a funeral bundle

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Description

light weighted wood (balsa tree?), remains of red pigment (haematite), eyes inlaid with sea shells, of quadrangular shape with protruding nose, strong traces of weathering, cracks, custom mount;
such heads were buried with the deceased to transform them into a communal ancestor. They may be carved from wook like masks or may be hammered and embossed from metal like gold, silver or copper. But they could just as well consist of textile wrapping filled with raw cotton and straw, with the facial features painted or applicated

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Comparing literature

Hoffmann, Ulrich (Hg.), Frauen des alten Amerika in Kult und Alltag, Stuttgart 2001, p. 134 Purini, Sergio & André Emmerich, La sculpture en bois dans l'ancien Pérou, Paris 2006, p. 106 ff.

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