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Tlatilco Ceramic Circular Face Mask with Ears

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:50.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 300.00 USD
Tlatilco Ceramic Circular Face Mask with Ears
<B>Circular Face Mask with Ears</B></I><BR>Tlatilco<BR>1100 - 900 B.C.<BR>Ceramic, traces of paint<BR>Height 5 1/4 in. Width 5 1/4 in.<BR><BR>The round face with open eyes, mouth, and nostrils is surrounded by a flange behind the facial plane. Three holes are punched, one at top, and one at either temple, so that the mask could be worn. Surviving Tlatilco figurines (Michael D. Coe. <I>The Jaguar's Children: Pre-Classic Central Mexico.</B></I> New York: The Museum of Primitive Art, 1965: figs.123, 147, 157, 158) show such masks being worn by ball players and figures clothed to suggest a shaman (Coe 1965 also illustrates a closely similar round, flanged mask, no. 165). The mask is in good condition, with some root marks, light mineral deposits, and a minor age crack running outward from the proper left eye through the suspension hole to the rim. Some red and yellow paint remains on the face.<BR><BR>Provenance<BR>Skinner, Boston: sale 2209, 20 September 2003, Lot 61, pp. 18-19<BR><BR>