mask
- Museum number
- Am1888,0717.1
- Description
-
Anthropomorphic mask with triangular nose-ornament, made of gold by hammering and embossing. The nostrils and eyes are open. It was probably a funerary mask of a high status personage; fastening holes around the edge might have been used to attach it to a cloth or another material.
- Production date
- 100BC-1600 (?)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 15.50 centimetres
-
Width: 18 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
The cultural affiliation of the object is not clear: the nose ornament is Late Quimbaya but masks are unknown from this period; the mask could be from the Colombian Southwest in the 1st millennium AD.
-
Vila Llonch 2013
This spectacular hammered mask with a dangling nose ornament would probably have been placed on top of the face of a funerary bundle – the wrapped body of the deceased – transforming him into an ancestor and semi-divine figure.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2005 11 Apr-10 Jul, Seoul Arts Centre, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2005 25 Jul-8 Oct, Busan Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2005 27 Oct-2006 31 Jan, Haengso Museum, Keimyung University, Daegu, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2006 18 Mar-4 Jun, Beijing, Capital Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2007 3 Feb-27 May, Taipei, National Palace Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2007 14 Sep-2 Dec, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2009 1 May-20 Sep, Victoria, Royal BC Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2009 11 Dec-2010 10 May, Madrid, Canal de Isabel II, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2012 Mar-Jul, Abu Dhabi, Manarat al Saadiyat, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2012-2013 30 Nov-7 Apr, Bonn, Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2013 Oct 17-2014 Mar 23. BM, 'Beyond El Dorado: Power and Gold in Ancient Colombia'
- Acquisition date
- 1888
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Am1888,0717.1
