Antique Nepalese wooden mask

Masks such as this very nice example are used by animist tribes all over Nepal and parts of Tibet. 

Masks like this are used for protection; they are hung in houses near doors or windows to protect the house and family against malevolent spirits and diseases. They are the houses of benevolent spirits, such as the family's ancestors, and are regularly fed with offerings of ghee or wodka and the smoke of incense. Sometimes they are worn by village shamans during ritual or healing ceremonies.

This handcarved mask comes from Nepal and 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.

Sizes; approximately 16 centimeters wide and 21 centimeters high.

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.

Unique item, only one available.