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.
One Comment
Chris
I think this represents a bat. I have no expertise in this area, so it’s just my opinion.