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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Costa Rican Masks : Guanacaste Greenstone Mask with a Bird Headdress
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Guanacaste Greenstone Mask with a Bird Headdress - PF.3357
Origin: Guanacaste Zone, Costa Rica
Circa: 500
AD
to 800
AD
Dimensions:
4.25" (10.8cm) high
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Medium: Greenstone
Location: United States
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| Description |
This mask touches and exhilarates centers of life
beyond our present reality. It serves as a means
of transforming the ordinary to the
extraordinary, the natural to the supernatural.
The mask has always been used as a ritual agent
of transformation in Meso-America. The ritual
wearer of this mask, the shaman, not only
represented the god; he was the god. He
manifested the life-force. Through that ritual
transformation joining the worlds of spirit and
nature, man and god fused in the zone of
mysterious transition marked by the mask itself
This mask is the seat of the soul, where the
outer and inner worlds meet. We are left to
ponder over the mysteries of the universe hidden
behind this mask, and the awakened insights it
has brought to our own inner spirits.
In this very asymmetrical and stylized work of
art, the artist has created a miniature
masterpiece. Notice the high cheekbone
definitions and the subtle swelling underneath
the eyes. Every detail of this sculpture has been
carved and polished with a tremendous amount
of sensitivity and integrity by the artist. Given the
opportunity to express his divine will of
ingenuity, the artist has imbued this mask with a
soul and energy that brings it to life! Two birds
with large beaks face different directions on
headdress. Their eyes peer at us. These birds are
most probably high-soaring species, and it is
possible that they were viewed as emissaries, the
all-seeing "eyes and ears" of the shaman who
wore this mask. We are drawn again and again
through this beautiful and harmonious
composition, compelled to dwell further into the
mysterious realms of our own inner psyches.
- (PF.3357)
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