False Face Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 28 Aug 1992
label: Collection Date
content: 1986
name: label: Donor Name
content: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden
notes: label: Notes
content: PROVENIENCE UNDOCUMENTED. IDENTIFICATION PROVIDED BY HMSG. WOODEN OVAL MASK IS PAINTED BLACK W/ SHARPLY CARVED FACIAL FEATURES INCLUDING RIDGED FOREHEAD, BEAKY NOSE, LOPSIDED LIPS (PAINTED RED), & RIDGES ON CHEEKS. HOLES ARE CUT OUT FOR EYES, NOSTRILS, & MOUTH. EYES ARE COVERED W/ TIN PLATES NAILED W/ COPPER NAILS. TOP OF MASK HAS NAILED PIECE OF HIDE FROM HORSE'S TAIL OR MANE W/ LONG, COARSE BLACK HAIR ATTACHED. HIDE PIECE ALSO HAS A HIDE LOOP & COTTON STRING ATTACHED TO IT. BACK OF MASK IS RECESSED, UNPAINTED. HAS 2 WRITTEN LABELS: "154/5 9074 S.2776" AND "S.3.73." CONDITION: NAILS IN HIDE PIECE ARE RUSTED. HAIR IS FALLING OUT. ACCORDING TO THE HANDBOOK OF N. AM. INDIANS, VOL. 15, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1978, "FALSE FACE MASKS ARE WORN & USED BY THE SOCIETY OF FACES IN THE PREVENTION & CURE OF ILLNESS; THEY ALSO APPEAR DURING THE MIDWINTER CEREMONY BOTH IN CURING & WORN BY SMALL BOYS WHO GO FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE BEGGING FOR TOBACCO & COOKIES (P.305). THESE MASKS DEPICT BEINGS SEEN IN THE FOREST OR IN DREAMS (P.460)."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 20 Oct 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: United States (not certain) / Canada (not certain), North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Iroquois (Haudenosaunee)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 370312
label: USNM Number
content: E428123-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 59.5 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 46.5 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 11 cm