Early 20th C. Mexican Guerrero Wood Dance Mask

**Originally Listed At $550**

North America, Mexico, Guerrero region, ca. early to mid-20th century CE. A hand-carved wooden dance mask of a tall form with a broad forehead, an aquiline nose, a gaping mouth beneath a black-painted mustache, deep facial wrinkles and nasolabial folds, and openwork viewing slits above painted eyes. The mask exhibits white-pink pigment as a flesh-toned ground, with areas of red detailing the mouth, and black forming the eye brows and facial hair. Dance masks like this example were meant to represent Christian followers that would engage in dramatic battle scenes with masked Moors. A fine example of Mexican mask traditions! Size: 5.75" W x 9.2" H (14.6 cm x 23.4 cm).

For a stylistically similar example, please see: Mauldin, Barbara. "Masks of Mexico: Tigers, Devils, and the Dance of Life." Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 1999, p. 44.

Provenance: private Alameda, California, USA collection; ex-private Jaled Moyaes collection

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#149405
Condition Report: Minor nicks to nose, teeth, forehead, peripheries, and verso, with fading and chipping to original pigmentation, and light encrustations within some recessed areas, otherwise intact and very good. Great traces of original pigment across obverse, and light earthen deposits throughout.