East Asia

Decorative wall hanging

Q:  Could you please tell me more about this mask, where it’s from and if it has any value?  Ronald, 1228

A:  I normally publish real masks on the Mask Man blog, not decorative art. But I thought this might be a copy of a Japanese Bugaku mask. Wrong! Only places like India, Nepal, China and Indonesia do masks with their tongue hanging out. And this is obviously not a real mask, but something nobody could wear. It can only be art for the wall. One of the problems with non-masks is that they often add and subtract features that come from other cultures. This is confusing and something most collectors choose to avoid.  C

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