Chancay Funeral Mask

The Chancay people were a people of sailor and peasant. This object representing a human face painted in red is improperly called a mask. It would be more correct to name it a dummy face, replacing that of the deceased who disappeared, as well as his body, under thick layers of tissue for his funeral. The role of the mask, attached to the funeral fardo, was to locate the face of the deceased. The face made in Alder is expressive and covered with red pigments, the nose is hooked in the shape of a bird's beak and the mouth is underlined by a horizontal incision. Two pieces of shells powerfully and expressively represent the eyes of the deceased.
Chancay people (900 - 1450 AD)
Dimensions without base: 20.8 x 19 x 7.2 cm