Carpinteros, Veracruz

9 inches, painted wood

A dealer/collector of Mexican dance masks, Dinah Gaston, traveled to Carpintiros to meet the famous carver of this mask, and she subsequently sold it to the last owner. There is a dance photograph in Barbara Mauldin’s book- Tigers, Devils, and the Dance of Life: Masks of Mexico, p. 28, showing a similar mask. Carved by Ciriaco Gonzalezis, he is also know for his dramatic animal and bird masks that have been widely sold in recent decades.

This particular mask is interesting because there are vision slits above and below the carved eyes, thus providing the wearer with an unusually good field of vision. The hair, sideburns and mustache are almost baroque in their detailing. On the back, the mask appears to have been used, but then scrubbed to make it more presentable for a future buyer. This practice of scrubbing the back of a mask that one intends to sell is very common in Mexico.

sold