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Hediyeh
@hediyeh #502720
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The nose is often of rolled buckskin or corncob. Frequently the mask has a projecting wooden cylinder for a bill or a gourd stem cut with teeth for a snout. Horns are attached to some masks.
Eyes are represented by incisions or by buckskin balls filled with deer hair and affixed to the mask.
This masks made of leather and are humanized by the addition of hair and a variety of adjuncts.
Cylindrical masks, covering the entire head and resting on the shoulders, are of a primal type.
The traditional animal masks worn by the Altaic and Tungusic shamans in Siberia are strictly close to such prehistoric examples as the image of the so-called Sorcerer in Trois Frères cave in Ariège, France.
Disguise masks were seemingly used in the early Stone Age in stalking prey and later to house the slain animal’s spirit in the hope of placating it.
Perhaps the earliest use of masks was in connection with hunting.
Grimacing menpō, or half masks (generally covering the face below the eyes), were used by Japanese samurai.
The ancient Greeks and Romans used battle shields with grotesque masks (such as Gorgon masks) or attached terrifying masks to their armour, as did Chinese warriors.
war mask will have a malevolent expression or hideously fantastic features to instill fear in the enemy.
Masks have long been used in military connections.
They wore grimacing, twisted masks, often with long wigs of horsehair.
Among the best known of these groups was the False Face Society of the Iroquois people. These professional healers performed violent pantomimes to exorcise the dreaded gahadogoka gogosa (demons who plagued the Iroquois).
In some cultures, the masked members of secret societies could drive disease demons from entire villages.
Masks have played an important part in magico-religious rites to prevent and to cure disease.
These were realistic portraits painted in encaustic on wood during a person’s lifetime; when the person died, they were attached directly to the facial area on the mummy shroud.
Another type of life mask was produced in Al-Fayyum region of Egypt during the 1st and 2nd centuries ce.
In the 19th century, life masks made in the same manner became popular.
With wax or liquid plaster of paris, a negative cast of the human face could be produced that in turn acted as a mold for the positive image, frequently cast in bronze.
From the 17th to the mid-20th century, death masks of famous persons were widespread among Europeans.
The ancient Mexicans made burial masks that seem to be generic representations rather than portraits of individuals.
Some of these ancient Andean masks had movable parts, such as the metallic death mask with movable ears that was found in the Temple of the Moon (Huaca de la Luna) at Moche, Peru.
The mummies of lesser personages often had masks that were made of wood or clay.
The mummies of Inca royalty wore golden masks.
Masks were also made to protect the deceased by frightening away malevolent spirits.