South America

Tikuna Animal Mask

Q: I am hoping that you might be able to help me identify this mask and shed some light about it’s origin/provenance/significance. My parents collected mostly African and Asian masks/statues and I consider myself to be (moderately) good at placing origin/regions, but this one completely stumps me.

A: I believe this an animal (Cow, Piranha, Bird? What do you think?) mask from the Tikuna people of Colombia, Brazil and Peru.  The Tikuna use a lot of cloth in their mask designs and they often depict animals. B

According to Wikipedia, the Tikuna people have the largest population of any Amazonian people.

 

 

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