Description:

Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, Jama Coaque (Jamacoaque) culture, ca. 200 BCE to 500 CE. A maskette, perhaps a funerary mask, with dramatic yellow and blue pigment.Comes with custom stand. Size: 4.9" W x 3.25" H (12.4 cm x 8.3 cm)

On the inverse, unpainted side, the impressions of a woven cloth are clear - remnants from the molding process. The face shown here is somewhat human, but with some notable features - small ears that point forward and a strange mouth with two round, blue ornaments. The nose is pierced and has a dramatic ornament that looks like twin open hands reaching out to either side. Although the meaning of the ornament on this mask is unclear to us today, we know that the Jama Coaque were a highly stratified society where differences of clothing and jewelry described the status of the individual depicted. A person from that culture would have looked at this mask and immediately known who or what it depicted and what their role in the society was.

Provenance: Ex-Private AZ collection

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#118817

  • Condition: Intact with much remaining pigment.

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September 13, 2018 7:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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