Rare Antique Guatemalan Wooden Dance Mask Patina Spinning Glass Eyes AP Morería!

An antique Thai carved wooden tribal mask from the 19th century depicting a swine with pierced eyes, nostrils, textured ground and weathered appearance. Created in Thailand during th...

This colorfully painted and expertly carved mask was once used in one of the oldest Guatemalan dance performances, the Baile del Patzcar. Still practiced today, this dance evolved fr...

Vintage Guatemalan Dance Mask of the Female or Pretty Lady with bright colors, red lips with teeth showing and golden hair. Inset glass eyes below o...

Wolf or similar animal mask from Nepal with alert ears, mouth with teeth and fangs. Deep old patina on front and inside from traditional use. Ex- private collection in Southwest, ex ...

Very important “Nwantamtay” dance African mask, consisting of three sections: The upper in plain rectangular shape surmounted by a crescent shape moon, the middle with beautiful geometric triangles in black bitumen and white kaolin, surrounding a red cruciform in the centre of remarkable contrasting colors, and the lower part or face inscribed in a circular space that inspired numbered great artists like Joan Miro, Picasso and Henry Moore of a very strongly solar symbolism, with a projecting protuberance emanating from the forehead like a sculpted bird beak, that descents toward the mouth. Concentric eyes harmonize with the circular mouth, both with of elegant proportions. The whole mask exudes a supreme harmony and perfect balance rarely seen in this pieces. The back-side presents nice ware that attested the ancient origin and traces of animistic ceremonies as the use of animal blood residues. The painting of brown bitumen or cola, the natural colorants in red and ocher tones and the white kaolin are original and do not show any repainted or restored areas, giving a freshness rarely seen in old pieces. This exceptional mask Bwa, of the Hound`e Region in Burkina-Fasso, was used it the transit ceremonies and funerals manifesting the presence of “Do”, name given to their God sons, protectors and powerful spirits. The round face also represents an owl, the curving beak of the bird plants a seed into the sun, like a female sexual vulva being fecundated by the male organ; the eternal symbol of Ying and Yang, masculine and feminine, and the quest of life and death. This mask of Primitive facture can be compared to the one in the celebrated Verite Collection (this one being larger) sold in Paris at the Hotel Drouot, Saturday June 17, Lot 59, for 80,000 Euros and remarkably stands out from the Pierre and Tannia Matisse sold in Sotheby’s, New York in May 13, 2011. Another similar piece was published in: “Arman et l’art africain...

Hand Painted Wooden African Mask & Snake Dimensions on the snake are as follows 25'' long by 6.25'' tall roughly 1.5'' thick