People's Moon Mask Item Number: 3194/24 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Moon mother mask. A large face protrudes from the centre of a convex oval of wood, with a smaller face both above the forehead and below the chin. Central face has prominent black brows and round, black, staring pupils to either side of a carved vertical ridge. Nose has flared red nostrils, above a wide red mouth with a circular labret in an extended lower lip. The smaller faces are nearly identical but with less carved detail and no labret. The bottom face is upside down. Each has several plugs of long brown hair at top of head. The surrounding oval is painted along its edge with black, red and blue-green stripes, with evenly place inset squares of abalone shell. The back of the mask is concave with chamois ties.