Important Kwakiutl Raven Mask - SOLD
$0.00
British Columbia
1890
Height 9 1/2" Length 29"
Red cedar, red cedar bark, trade cloth, paint, and cording
Provenance: Constance McCormick Fearing, Santa Barbara, CA. Acquired in 1960s
Heye Foundation, New York, NY
Masks are highly valued by the Kwakiutl, serving as potent manifestations of ancestral spirits and supernatural beings and offering these supernatural entities temporary embodiment and communication through dance and other kinds of performance (Greenville 1998: 14). This is an exceptional mask and similar to the example in the Peabody Museum at Harvard.