Mask

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Culture Teotihuacan

Title Mask

Date 200–650

Medium Metamorphic granite

Dimensions Object: 6 3/4 × 7 × 2 5/16 in. (17.1 × 17.8 × 5.9 cm)
Overall (includes mount): 8 5/8 × 7 1/2 × 3 1/4 in. (21.9 × 19.1 × 8.3 cm)

Credit Line Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 79.6.2

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About this Work

Not worn by a person, masks of this type were created using tools of bone, horn, and stone. There are no eyeholes, and the flat back of the mask, in addition to its weight suggest that it was instead attached to something else. Probably utilized in a funerary context, this mask may have been placed over the face of the dead. Some scholars believe they may have been attached to wooden figures or armatures in order to resemble more costly figures made entirely of stone. Experts suspect these masks were originally more individualized than they currently appear. Inlayed eyes, shells, and painting would have been added.

Provenance
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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Mask | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=79.6.2