**Originally Listed At $400**

Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, Jamacoaque (Jama Coaque) culture, ca. 500 CE. A brightly painted diminutive mask showing a person with a grotesque face, huge decorations pierced at nose and between the eyes. Wide, staring eyes may have once been filled with something else like shell or may represent a chemically-induced state that the face portrayed is experiencing. This figure is probably a shaman shown in a transformative state; the effect of the face may be of the skin of one creature over another's. Comes with custom stand. Shamanic transformation - brought on in part by the ingestion of coca leaves - was a huge part of the Jama Coaque pottery, a turning away from earlier Ecuadorian pottery traditions (Valdivian, Chorrera) that were focused on representations of the body. In this new phase in ancient Ecuadorian society, status and different occupations for individuals suddenly became important to show artistically - suggesting that this was the period when their culture began to stratify and become culturally complex, with individuals in the society having specialized roles like shaman. This fantastic mask stands on its own as a work of art but also reminds us of exciting developments in a long-lost world. Size: 5" W x 4" H (12.7 cm x 10.2 cm)

Provenance: Ex-Private Maricopa County, AZ collection

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#118389

Small chip from top of one ear; there is a stable crack on the lower back of the mask that runs to the front of the chin, but does not seem to have been repaired or to be in danger of breaking further.