Vintage Dayak Hudoq Ancestor Mask Featured in Spiderman Movie, Kalimantan (1314ESA) SPECIAL PRICE

Description

The Dayak (Dyak) people live on the Island of Kalimantan in the Indonesia part of Borneo and their hudoq masks are offerings to attract gods, ancestors and sacred rice spirits that assure the fertility of rice and protect villages. They are tribal, folk and ethnic objects that may not only worn on the face; they are also applied to many other objects. Those made for the traditional Dyak agricultural festival are also known as hudoq, also the name for both the festival itself and the pests that threaten rice crops. Masks can be human or animal caricatures used to amuse or frighten. Like this vintage ancestral mask, they often have large wing-like separately-carved ears attached to the mask with rattan, which usually dries, cracks, and later detaches. Mask images are applied to shields, doors, walls, burial poles, house supports, pillars and may also be oversize carvings worn as part of an elaborate costume.  Dayak culture is based on animism, shamanism, ancestor-worship, offerings to gods and ancestors, and for the huge yearly agricultural festival, masks can be scary, human or animal caricatures, amuse or frighten.  A form of ancestor-worship, these masks are aids that foster communication between the living and the departed and also honor them. A unique addition to any mask collection, this mask was one of three featured in the collection of the Green Goblin in the 2002 Spiderman movie along with the Javanese Mask 1318 and the Timor Mask 1203BEK. This is in excellent condition with a nice patina demonstrating its age and use with minor paint losses and scrapes and replaced rattan attachment.

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