Funerary Mask

Item number 64.94 from the Brooklyn Museum.

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Description

Ceramic funerary mask decorated with colored resin enamels. Mask is composed of a Paracas bowl to which the details have been applied by incision or application. Eyes consist of 2 interior cones decorated with concentric circles. 11 tabs project from rim of the face, 8 of which represent serpent heads. A 12th projection at the top of the mask forms the head of a human who is impersonating the Oculate Being by wearing this deity's mask. It's body is represented two dimensionally by incisions embellished with red, yellow and green resin enamel. Its nose is a smaller version of the huge probocis of the mask.

Label

On the South Coast of Peru a mythological figure began appearing on ceramics and textiles about 200 to 100 B.C.E. This mysterious figure, identified by scholars as the Oculate Being, may be an early agricultural fertility-cult deity. It is depicted with large eyes, an oversized head, an elongated nose, a smiling sausage-shaped mouth, and a protruding tongue. Numerous streamers flow from its head and body.

On the jar displayed here, the deity holds a trophy head, ritually taken in battle. The mask, which probably adorned a wrapped corpse, or mummy bundle, depicts the Oculate Being in threedimensional form. Twelve projecting tabs around the face include four double-headed snakes, iconography seen on other Paracas masks.


En la Costa Sur del Perú, una figura mitológica comenzó a aparecer en cerámicas y textiles alrededor del 200 al 100 A.E.C. Esta figura misteriosa, identificada por algunos académicos como el Ser Oculado, puede tratarse de una deidad temprana de culto a la fertilidad y agricultura. Se representa con enormes ojos, nariz larga, una boca sonriente con labios en forma de salchicha, y una lengua sobresaliente. Numerosas serpentinas flotan desde su cabeza y cuerpo.

En esta vasija en exhibición, la deidad sostiene una cabeza-trofeo, obtenida ritualmente en combate. La máscara, que probablemente adornaba una momia envuelta, o fardo funerario, representa al Ser Oculado en forma tridimensional. Doce proyecciones alrededor de la cara incluyen cuatro serpientes de doble cabeza, iconografía encontrada en otras máscaras Paracas.

Credit Line

Frank L. Babbott Fund and Dick S. Ramsay Fund

Item History

  • Made between 301 BCE and 1

What

Name
Funerary Mask
Identification Number
64.94
Type of Item
mask
Material
ceramic, resin and pigment
Overall
length 11.1875 in, width 10.1875 in, height 7.6875 in

Where

Holding Institution
Brooklyn Museum

Who

Culture
Paracas Cavernas

When

Creation Date
between 301 BCE and 1

Other

Location
Arts of the Americas Galleries, 5th Floor
Classification
Masks

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