Beautiful old wooden Nepalese mask, decorated with beads of rita seeds, copal, bone and conch shell. 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, wodka or milk and the smoke of incense.
This handmade mask is approximately 15 centimeters wide and 27 centimeters high. Its exact age is hard to say, but it can roughly be determined around mid 20th century. Of course it shows some signs of its age, but it is overall in very good condition and will no doubt make a great spirit house once again.
