a golden Moche crown, technically not a mask, but it has a very expressive face modelled into it: fabulous piece!
There are hundreds, no, thousands of masks and statues and other expressions of human faces in the Chilean and Peruvian museums, of great variety and artistic value.
I do have a fascination with masks, and the Chilean and Peruvian museums didn’t disappoint in this. Of course the ancient copper, silver and gold funerary masks are the most well-known, spectacular in their detail and decoration. Yet some of them distinguish themselves through their simplicity, just a few lines, or bends in the metal, that produce a face. And then there are the solid stone masks, and those carved our of stone. And the remarkably well-preserved wooden statues and masks, some still supporting vivid colours, despite their 1000s of years age.
Had I been rich and rapacious, like the early collectors, I would have collected them all for my own private museum. In the event, I have collected some pictures of them, which I happily share.
a Chimu metal funeral mask
copper mask, Vicus culture
a goldplated silver funerary mask, Lambayeque culture (1000-1476 AD)
copper maqsk, Moche culture (200 BC – 600 AD)
Huari gilded copper funerary mask (800-1300 AD)
another Huari gilded copper funerary mask (800-1300 AD)
one of my favourites, a golden mask from the Sican culture
stone Olmeca mask (1200-200 BC)
stucco Maya mask (300-900 AD)
great simplicity of a clay sculpture of a human face, Pukara culture
even more simplicity: antropomorph sculpture, Nasca culture (100-800 AD)
stone carving of a face, Chimu culture
three small ceramic masks, Sipan culture
clay head, Nasca culture (100-800 AD)
wooden chemamulle, tomb sculpture, Mapuches
wooden Chincha idol (1300-1532 AD
wooden carved antromorph figure, Chachapoya culture (1)
wooden carved antromorph figure, Chachapoya culture (2)
wooden carved antromorph figure, Chachapoya culture (3)
wooden carved antromorph figure, Chachapoya culture (4)
wooden puppet carving, Chimu culture (1)
wooden puppet carving, Chimu culture (2)
wooden puppet carving, Chimu culture (3)
wooden white-face guard sculpture, Chimu
moai kava kava, wooden sculpture, Rapa Nui from Easter Island
wooden sculpture, Rapa Nui from Easter Island
wooden sculpture, Rapa Nui from Easter Island
ceramics Nasca sculpture
less pretty, but rather unique amongst the collections: stone head for offering, Nasca culture
