Very old wooden Nepalese mask, completely handcarved and decorated on the forehead with traditional symbols such as a sun and moon. Beautiful in its rustique, authentic appearance. An amazing piece of tribal art, but most of all a wonderful home for a benevolent spirit.
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 good-natured 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 21 centimeters wide and 29 centimeters high. Its exact age is hard to say, but it can roughly be determined around the late 19th or early 20th century. This very old mask of course shows some signs of this respectable age, but it will no doubt make a great spirit house once again.
