Shamanic mask, Inupiaq (Eskimo), North of... - Lot 1 - Giquello

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7000 - 10000 EUR
Shamanic mask, Inupiaq (Eskimo), North of... - Lot 1 - Giquello
Shamanic mask, Inupiaq (Eskimo), North of the Bering Strait, Alaska 19th century Carved wood H. 15 cm Inupiaq (Eskimo) shamanic mask, North of the Bering Strait, Alaska H. 6 in Provenance: - Acquired from Joe Gerena, New York - Former private collection, France Powerful Inupiaq (Eskimo) mask featuring a face halfway between man and animal. As the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Alaska indicates, Inupiaq masks were used in ceremonies to honor animal spirits. These spirit helpers were the guardians and guides with whom the shaman communicated during his trances. According to Ann Feinup-Riordan's "Eskimo Essays", these masks were often abandoned at the end of the rituals to make room for new visions. New masks were then carved to replace them. Masks were also sometimes hung in homes as a sign of protection, placed in graves, or used in storytelling or entertainment ceremonies. Shamanic transformation masks of this type are illustrated in the publication "Masks of the Point Hope Eskimo" by James W. Van Stone (Anthropos, 1968). Several examples of Inupiaq half-masks were also collected during the E. A. McIlhenny's expedition to Point Barrow in 1899 and are now in the collections of the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, USA. The wear marks, old breaks and patina suggest that this mask was left in the permafrost for a long time. A magnetic presence emanates from this shamanic mask.
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