Antique Nepalese wooden mask

Masks such as this beautiful example are used by animist tribes all over Nepal and parts of Tibet. The dark hard wood with the glossy patina indicates an origin in most likely the Magar or Gurung tribe.

A mask such as this could have been used as a spirit house by a traditional Nepalese shaman, but could also have been hung in a family house, where it would have been the house of a benevolent spirit such as a family's ancestor with the task to protect the house and family against intruders such as malevolent spirits and diseases. In any case, it would have been regularly fed with offerings of ghee or wodka and the smoke of incense.

This handcarved mask is approximately 16 centimeters wide and 21 centimeters high. On both sides of the head a hole has been drilled, making it possible to thread a cord through to turn it into a wallhanging object. 

The exact age of this mask is hard to say, but it can roughly be determined somewhere around the middle of the 20th century, or maybe even a little bit earlier. Considering its age, it is in good condition (except maybe for the crack in the wood at the chin-area, but this crack can easily have been there already from its earliest days; it's a very stabile one). It has gained a nice patina of ageing over the years.

Unique item, only one available.