Large mask depicting a stylized human face. - Lot 82

Large mask depicting a stylized human face. Light and dark brown ceramic. Height: 28.4 cm. Width : 34.5 cm. Thickness: 6 cm Calima culture, Yotoco period, ca. 100 B.C.-800 A.D. Colombia. Provenance : Former collection of Ramón Alonso Noval, Oviedo, Spain. Acquired 1960-1970. Through inheritance to the present day. Broken and glued in various places, notably at the ears and on the edges, with restorations. Presence of manganese oxides. Thermoluminescence test by the Kotalla laboratory dated February 18, 2022 indicating a result of 1190 (+ or - 14.5%). Export license 2021/02041 issued by the Ministerio de cultura y deporte, Spain. This mask is of the utmost importance. Rarely has this type of mask been offered to connoisseurs. With its stylized treatment and finely engraved geometric decoration, this mask is surprisingly large, even monumental. All these often incomprehensible engravings had a precise meaning. It has been suggested that some of the engravings represent stylized monkeys. A similar example has been in the collections of the Musée de l'Homme since 1891. Although it was long thought that these masks might be by the Muisca culture, current research has shown that they are more likely to have been produced by the Calima civilization, active during the so-called Yotoco period, stretching from the end of the 1st century BC to around 800 AD. Using the thermoluminescence test, we can narrow down the production period of our mask to the late Yotoco period. The Calima culture occupied the area around the river of the same name, as well as the fertile lowlands of the Rio Cauca valley. No traces of villages have survived, as construction was carried out using perishable materials. However, burials containing a wealth of funerary furniture have been found. Ceramic objects such as masks like this one, vases decorated with human and animal representations (monkeys, toads), as well as domestic vases known as alcarraza, rock crystal beads and various gold items (jewelry, flutes, funerary masks) have all been unearthed. Analysis of similar examples indicates that the frieze framing the face features stylized monkeys.