Far East, Japan, Nara period, ca. 710 to 784 CE. Striking and expressive, this expertly hand-carved wooden polychrome and gilded Japanese gigaku mask depicts Karura, a major Buddhist deity based upon the gigantic birds of Hinduism known as Garuda. Its exceptional style and technique are particular to the Nara period, when the carving of gigaku masks reached their pinnacle. Inside of the mask, there is a piece of fabric/tape that is inscribed with the following: “????(KARURAMEN)”. This is KARURA-MASK. ??? is KURURA, ?(MEN) is MASK . KARURA is god of Buddhism. It is as same as GARUDA." The colorful finish was created via a dry lacquer technique known as dakkatsu kanshitsu with additional gilding highlighting the eyes and central crest. Karura is one of the fourteen characters in the gigaku, a religious dance-drama that was performed for the Japanese royal court at Buddhist temple ceremonies from the 7th to the 10th century. In the performance, Karura is a mythical giant bird that protects the Buddhist faith. Gigaku masks are the oldest type of Japanese existing masks. Since the plays were traditionally performed in the outdoors at court or temple, the artists who created these masks usually enhanced their visages with exaggerated features, as we see in this example, so they would to maintain their comic effect, even when viewed from afar. Size: 5" W x 7.5" H (12.7 cm x 19 cm)

Provenance: Ex-private Morgan Collection, Santa Fe, NM.

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