BALI, Indonesia. - Lot 88

BALI, Indonesia. Dance mask featuring a face that is both human and animalistic: the rounded forehead is emphasized by raised superciliary arches, the sunken orbits join a large nasal cavity, and the open mouth reveals teeth and fangs. This composition combines feline vigor with altered human features, whose bony appearance and deep cavities suggest death. The hybridity of this mask, a cross between predator and memento mori, evokes the shifting boundary between the world of the living and that of spirits. Polychrome wood, beautiful old internal wear marks, wheel tires cut out and attached (later additions replacing the original ties). Dimensions: 29 × 22 cm This type of mask is associated with the Balinese dramatic repertoire, in particular with representations of the Calonarang cycle. Human features altered by feline fangs, hollowed eye sockets and a large nasal cavity evoke demonic figures such as the Jauk or Rangda's followers, ambivalent spirits on the border between the world of the living and the dead. These masks embodied predatory, liminal powers, opposed to the protective Barong, and their iconography is close to that of the demon Kala in Javanese art. Activated in rituals, they were used not only in theatrical dramas, but also in exorcistic and community ceremonies aimed at restoring the balance between destructive and protective forces.