Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Bali or Java, ca. 20th century CE. A fine pair of hand-carved and hand-painted wooden masks depicting characters for the Topeng dance of Indonesia. Both vizards display eccentric visages, each with bulging, openwork eyes beneath an arched unibrow, an elongated nose, and a slightly smiling mouth held open to expose a top row of tab-shaped teeth, all adorned with vibrant red, blue, gold, white, and black pigments. Both visages are capped by elaborate headbands that sit atop their lustrous locks of black hair. The moustache of one displays leather discs at each end, while the other is formed from braided animal hair. A leather chinstrap on the verso extends from the mouth of each mask. Size of largest (both about the same): 5.6" W x 7" H (14.2 cm x 17.8 cm)

Topeng masks traditionally have been worn during the dramatic dances enacted in Bali and to a lesser extent Java that depict traditional stories of kings, princes, heroes, and myths. In these dances, the entire story is performed by only four or five actors playing all the parts, both male and female. As a result, each actors will have around forty masks like this one; there is believed to be a special bond between actor and mask and it is said that when the actor dons the mask, he enters a kind of trance, connected to the spiritual world. The Topeng dance originated in the 17th century, and the word "topeng" literally means mask in Indonesian.

Provenance: ex-Stein collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA, acquired prior to 2010

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#168952

Both have expected nicks, chips, and abrasions, commensurate with age. Some fraying to braided animal hair and peeling to surface of leather. Otherwise, both are intact and excellent with impressive remaining pigments. Remains of inscription on verso of larger.