Water devil mask "thota yaka" · Sri Lanka · ID: 3046907
Description
wood, three-part, polychrome paint,
In ancient times, the people of Sri Lanka were convinced that diseases were caused by evil spirits or devils. To appease the devils, songs of praise and mask dances were performed, whereby the masks represented the different types of devils (“yaka”). Besides the water devil “thota yaka”, there was the black devil “kalu yaka”, or the blood devil “riri yaka” etc. A magic priest “kattadiya” was entrusted with the performance of the ceremonies.
The object Water devil mask “thota yaka” with the object ID 3046907 was last part of the auction Voyage Tribal Art - Live Online Auction at May 23, 2020 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 11 achieved a sales price of EUR 1,000.
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.