Mask

Item number 1949.207 from the MAA: University of Cambridge.

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Data
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Description

Carved wooden ceremonial mask with hands on either side of the head as flaps. The mask has painted eyebrows on a prominent forehead, round eyes, a prominent nose and chin. The mouth is down turned and pierced. A black design has been painted around the eyes, cheeks and chin. The wooden hands have interlocking fingers which conceal the face, and open by a system of strings. The palms of the hands have a stripped design painted in black.; Good

Context

The mask has been identified as Kwakiutl by Prof. Erna Gunther 1952 and by Dr. Marie Mauze Nov. 1990, and as Nuxalk, or Bella Coola, by Bill McLennan, University of British Columbia, Museum of Anthropology, June 1992. McLennan noted it is similar to several masks on display at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation. The similarity of this mask to 1924.758, and to one illustrated in The Box of Daylight (Bill Holm, University of Washington Press: Seattle, 1983) page 40, suggests a Bella Coola or Nuxalk provenance (G.Crowther). The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; The mask is of a transformatory nature with the opening hands revealing the concealed being. It would have been used during winter ceremonials, but its specific identity is uncertain (G.Crowther).; Exhibited: CUMAA new Anthropological displays 1990-, wall case, object number 3. Loaned by CUMAA to the Vancouver Centennial Museum May 1986, returned January 1987.; Collected by: ?Fox.D.Spencer-