Antique Mask of Tudi Gong, China (16574)

Description

This expressive mask of Tudi Gong the Chinese Earth God was used in Chinese Nuo Opera /Drama local performances in towns and provincial villages in Southern China. Performance masks are believed to enable performers to communicate with deities. They are considered family protectors and often placed in homes to repel misfortune and bring good luck.

Originating in antiquity, Chinese Nuo performances are religious dramas and operas as well as secular entertainment based on historic events and legends, folktales, and popular literature among ethnic groups along the Yangtze River. Influenced by animism, shamanism, ancestor worship and Taoism, Nuo performances exorcise malevolent spirits, presents religious and cultural values and explore the world of the gods and spirits.

Although Tudi Gong is a low-ranking official in Chinese folk religion bureaucracy,  he is one of the most widespread and popular deities, representing a local-level administrator. He protects towns and villages and is believed to control the prosperity and fortune of common people. Tudi is a zhengshen, a kindly, honest god with a gentle disposition, symbolizing the great power of good to defeat evil.

Like all Tudi masks, this one has realistic features following strict canons of presentation but exaggerated to depict the ideal of kind and good with “benevolent brows, benign eyes, wide kindly face with big ears and smiling countenance; and they are painted with soft and harmonious colors ” (Li). This smiling and animated mask has a large nose and ears, long eyebrows, beard and the high decorative hat of a low-level official. it is made of light wood with painted features, cutouts for eyes and mouth and a hemp beard and is in very good condition with expected losses from age and use.

Nuo was popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties and although they are still performed in rural areas, there are few remaining troupes. Since 1949 most masks were destroyed in campaigns against superstition and are now considered Chinese folk-art treasures (CITS).

Click here for the Blog Tudi Gong: the Taoist and Popular Religion Earth God.

Sources

Lan Li, Popular Religion in Modern China: The New Role of Nuo, Ashgate Publisher, New York, 2015

Vijith Menon, Chinese Masks: History and Meaning, updated Feb 28, 2018.

Margaret E. Poggio, Wooden Tujia Masks for Nuo Opera in the Chinese Minority Nationalities” Art Gallery at the Shanghai Museum, flickr, 

CITS, China International, Nuo Opera – Behind the Masks.

historyplex, Chinese Masks, History and Meaning.