Description

Carved wooden Noh mask of “Yakan”. Deeply carved face with two horns, a large lump on its forehead, and a wide mouth with gold fangs. Painted with straggly hair and whiskers, and its large eyes are gold. The skin is a greyish-taupe colour and the lips are red. There is a dark purple cord on the back of the mask attached through small holes at each side. There are holes carved in the eyes, nostrils and mouth. The back of the mask is dark brown wood stamped with the maker’s mark. Part b is a tan fabric bag for part a, decorated with silk embroidery in various shades of green, orange and gold. The inside of the bag is white fabric, with black ink Japanese characters written on the flap. The white ties on the bag also have black Japanese characters and a small red maker’s mark. In addition to the fabric ties there is a flexible paper strip which also has Japanese characters inscribed on it.