Western India, Karnataka. The face with a parted grin baring fangs, a twirled mustache, large bulging eyes with incised and pierced pupils and centered by a foliate urna, the neck adorned with a torque and the head surmounted by an elaborate tiara.

Provenance: Dutch trade.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear and casting irregularities. Nicks, dents, minor losses, discoloration, pits, and traces of wear and use.

Weight: 2,966 g
Dimensions: Height 34 cm

The mask cast in four parts and welded together. The back with a horizontal bar.

Metal masks like the present lot are used in Bhuta worship practiced in Tulu Nadu, the Tulu-speaking coastal region of Karnataka state in southwestern India. Bhutas are supernatural beings or divinized ancestor spirits. Hundreds of different bhutas are worshiped, each embodied by a particular metal animal- or human-face mask. Boars, buffalos, and fierce forms of the god Shiva or his attendant ganas are especially popular. Koola (spectacular, all-night theatricals featuring ritual possession) are held to propitiate and communicate with Bhutas. An elaborately made-up and costumed medium invites a specific Bhuta into himself. The medium can wear the Bhuta mask over his face or on top of his head, or he can hold one in his hands during the performance. The Bhuta then sings, dances, tells stories, gives advice, and solves problems for the sponsoring family or village group.

The present lot exemplifies the masterful skill and creativity of traditional metal-casters in rural India who served the devotional needs of diverse communities. The making of these masks is probably very ancient using organic materials such as woven fibers and wood. It is unclear when cast metal versions began to be made, but none appear to be ancient or even medieval. The production of metal accoutrements for the annual Bhuta festivals may be relatively modern—the preserve of the sub-castes of market-town metal artisans, the Visvakarmas. Traditionally belonging to blacksmith and carpenter castes, some graduated to being makers of devotional images using metal foundry technologies. It is these communities who appear to be responsible for the making and supplying of Bhuta metal ritual paraphernalia.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related ferocious male Bhuta mask, dated 19th-20th century, 39.4 cm high, in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, accession number 2004-169-1. Compare a closely related mask of a ferocious Bhuta deity, dated ca. 18th century, 47.6 cm high, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, accession number 1996.24. Compare a closely related mask of the spirit deity Jumandi, dated to the 20th century, 43.3 cm, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2022.1.