Mask ·  Nepal, East · ID: 3034975

Description

wood, blackish brown patina, prominent cheekbones, unusual nose with bow-shaped lower rim, earrings, emblems on the forehead, teeth and fangs of brass- and silver metal, metal clamps arranged around the chin and above the mouth, leather appliqué on the head, slightly dam.,rep. (chin), minor missing parts (above all backside at the rim), paint rubbed off, metal base;
the usage of masks is widely spread in the Himalaya. They were used for religious ceremonies and ritual masquerades as well. Roughly there can be divided two groups of masks: the so-called “primitive” masks which can be affiliated from tribal or shamanistic traditions and the “classic” masks, which were created by the teachings of the great religions. Masks of the first group are designed according to their creators fantasy, while the design of masks of the second group stricty follows a clearly defined canon.

The object Mask with the object ID 3034975 was last part of the auction 73rd tribal art auction at May 25, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 18 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,000.

You can find more Masks and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on Asian art.

Comparing literature

Expo.Cat. "Als die Götter noch jung waren", Stadt Offenburg (ed.), Museum im Ritterhaus, 2002, p. 28 ff.