Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche, ca. 1st to 3rd century CE. An impressive hammered-copper funerary mask depicting the stylized face of a lord or king. The visage is composed of a bulbous nose, lightly-rounded cheeks with nasolabial folds in repousse, a wide chin below thin lips, and semicircular ears. Hanging below the chin are six hammered copper amulets on a modern copper wire depicting abstract owl heads, each with wide eyes and arched brows which conjoin to form the slender beak. Owls were symbolically important because they were believed to see through the darkness of death and act accordingly as a guardian to the afterlife. Size: 10.5" W x 7.25" H (26.7 cm x 18.4 cm); 13.5" H (34.3 cm) on included custom stand.
For a stylistically-similar example with additional inlays and a nose ring, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1980.563.15
Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private T. Misenhimer collection, Beverly Hills, California, USA, collected from 1970 to 2008
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#159627
Condition
Remarkably intact and excellent with lovely deep green patina.