Antique Nepalese wooden mask

Masks such as this beautiful example are used by animist tribes all over Nepal and parts of Tibet. This mask has been made of a dark hard wood with a glossy patina, which 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.

Masks like this are often enlivened and blessed by smearing red ochre on them. The residue of which can also be seen on this mask here in our shop, indicating that this mask has indeed been used as an active spirit house before. It should thus be treated with the utmost care and respect.

This handcarved mask is approximately 19 centimeters wide and 30 centimeters high. It weighs around 700 grams. It is made from wood which has been treated with natural pigments to attain a beautiful dark color, which has deepened over the years with the patina of ageing. On both sides of the face a hole has been drilled, making it possible to thread a cord through, to use it as a wallhanging object.

The exact age of this mask is hard to say, but it can roughly be determined somewhere around the early 20th century. Considering this very respectable age, it is in great condition. 

Unique item, only one available.