Pre-Columbian, Southern Peru, Huari (Wari) culture, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A hand-carved wooden mummy mask of a grand, trapezoidal size with textile adornments woven from both natural cotton and camelid (alpaca or llama) fibers. The red-brown mask features a rounded chin, white-painted eyes with black pupils, a slender nose protruding from the middle, and a slit form mouth flanked with diagonal black and white stripes. At each temple is a braided textile strand with a maroon and white tassel. Surrounding the forehead are a few textile panels with inversely corresponding stepped motifs, loose fringes, deep maroon and yellow hues, or a gauze-like weft. A magnificent artifact from the ancient Huari! Size: 11.25" W x 12" H (28.6 cm x 30.5 cm)
For the people of the Andes, death was not the end of life. It marked the transition into a new existence in the underworld. This transition was ensured through funerary rites and the careful preparation of the funerary bundle and tomb, so that society's leaders could be transformed into ancestors.
Display stand shown in photos is for photography purposes only.
Provenance: ex-Ashland University Museum, Ashland, Ohio, USA, donated to Ashland University between July 1994 to December 1998
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#166229
Condition
Minor abrasions and encrustations to obverse and verso, with fraying and light staining to textile panels, otherwise intact and excellent. Great preservation to overall form and textile adornments.