North America, Mexico, Guerrero region, ca. 1940s CE. A hand-carved wooden mask depicting an intriguing guise painted entirely in black. The face is covered in red and white dots with thicker red strips across the cheeks, chin, and nose. Additional white paint emphasizes the eye brows, eyes, and inside the mouth, with light blue and yellow further adorning the eyes beneath slit-form eye holes. The open mouth holds a thick cigarette with a burning end, and the verso is carved out for wear. Masks like this example are used in a number of communities to depict the "black fisherman" of the seas. According to author Barbara Mauldin, "The Dance of the Pescado (Fish) is popular in some Nahua communities, such as Mochitlan and Quechultenango, to promote good fishing in the rivers that run through the mountain valleys." (Mauldin, Barbara. Masks of Mexico: Tigers, Devils, and the Dance of Life. Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 1999, p. 43). Size: 5.25" W x 6.875" H (13.3 cm x 17.5 cm).

Provenance: ex-private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection

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#138098

Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age, small loss just beneath nose, fading and chipping to pigmentation, with minor nicks to peripheries, and light roughness around peripheries and along verso. Light earthen deposits throughout.