Natural Fiber Masks

Fantastic sculptural clay mask wall art made in Italy. Hand made in an aged adobe color with a short rope which ties off on the face of the mask. Hangs from a single screw making ins...

A beautiful wall mask made from woven esparto grass, depicting a donkey’s head. This rare piece of folk art from the South of France dates back to the 1970s. Entirely handcrafted, it...

Early antique hand carved Toma or Landai mask from Guinea, Africa. “These brooding, often quite large, masks represent a forest spirit, Landai. Masks lik...

A fantastic and somewhat grotesquely strange mask by the Yup'ik (Yupik) aboriginal, indigenous people of South-Western & South Central Alaska. The Yup'ik people, who are related to t...

A well preserved Yam Ancestor mask professionally presented on a museum quality acrylic display stand. The mask was a classic tribal art piece from Abela...

Fantastic sculptural clay mask wall art made in Italy. Hand made in an aged adobe color with a short rope which ties off on the face of the mask. Hangs from a single screw making ins...

A striking carved and painted mask in the tradition of the Native Indian tribes from Pacific Northwest Coast by David Frankel in 1994. The mask...

Elephants are often associated with political power in the highly stratified kingdoms of the Cameroon grasslands. Because imported beads were historically rare and costly, beadwork i...

African Salampasu Helmet Mask, carved wood, copper, and raffia, together with metal stand. Mask: 25" H x 10.75" W x 9" D. Provenance: From a Sutton Place Estate.

A fantastic and somewhat playful mask by the Yup'ik (Yupik) aboriginal, indigenous people of South-Western & South Central Alaska. The Yup'ik people, who are related to the Inuit peoples, have a long history of ceremonial mask making. Yup'ik masks were originally and specifically designed by Shamans and made to be worn by these spiritual leaders in Winter tribal dances and sacred ceremonies. Traditionally, the masks were destroyed or discarded after use in these ceremonies. Very few of these masks survived. After Christian contact in the late 19th century, masked dancing was suppressed and the tradition all but died out. As more outsiders settled in Alaska at the turn of the century, masks were made by the Yup'ik people to sell or trade for necessary goods. It is likely that this mask was created some years later for this purpose. In the 20th century, Yup'ik mask had a profound influence on many renowned surrealist artists including, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Leonora Carrington, Victor Brauner, and most notably Andre Breton who was an avid collector of Yup'ik masks. This fantastic anthropomorphic mask is carved of lighter wood, hand painted and decorated with pigment, and held together with natural fiber. The mask seems to represent some sort of smiling, benevolent spirit or character with its four eyes, bird beak, and cat-like ears. The mask is from a French collection. We were told that this mask, as well as others in the collection we have listed, was acquired originally in the 1950s-1960s in Alaska and the Yukon territory in Canada but as we have no way to verify or authenticate this. Please note we are listing the masks as decorative and not as actual tribal artifacts...

A beautiful and large example of Oceanic art, this delightful woven mask would have been used on the gable of a middle Sepik meeting house. The wildly expressive form is accentuated ...

A Kendo mask and bust protection. Japan 1930s. Very good patina. In original good condition