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Wooden mask with carved features, leather ears, and fur hair and mustache / Arctic, Inuit

Essay/Description

Wooden mask with carved feature, leather ears, and fur hair and mustache.

The masks were often made from wood or furred or de-haired skin and depicted legendary figures and the spirits (Issenman 1997, 208). During dances and ceremonies, shamans would perform with masks representing his or her tutelaries (guardian animal spirits). When the bond between the shaman and the tutelary was strong and close, the spirit would occasionally allow the shaman to show its face, or essence. Thus, some masks have hinges that when opened reveal a face within an animal and other masks lack the hinges and just show the face.

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Title(s): 
Wooden mask with carved features, leather ears, and fur hair and mustache
Culture: 
Arctic, Inuit
Date: 
1800s
Period: 
Historic
Place: 
Northwest Alaska, Alaska
Materials/Techniques: 
Wood, Rawhide, Fur
Classification: 
Object Type: 
Accession No: 
84.1421
Department: 
Not On View

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