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Cultural Context

ritual exorcism

History Of Use

Animal characters appear in the Kolam dance drama of southern Sri Lanka. Although there are no specific animal scenes, when animals appear they make appropriate noises and move to the accompaniment of a singer who describes the character. Animal masks belong to the oldest mask types, and this mask was probably used in a story involving an ox and a leopard. Kolam masks are not made to be spoken through but to impress and convey emotion by the expression of the mask itself.

Iconographic Meaning

Spots indicate the animal character most likely portrayed would be the leopard or diviya, used in Sinhalese for both tiger and leopard, also known as koti.

Description

Mask depicting a creature with a red-brown face dotted with white spots, bushy black eyebrows, protruding eyes that look upwards and have black centres surrounded by radiating black lines on white. A vertical ridge between the eyes joins a square snout with round holes for the nostrils. The mouth is wide open to expose white teeth and a wide red leather tongue, which is nailed to bottom of the jaw and protrudes out the front. Two pointy ears either side of the face.