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Yup’ik Mask
Alaska
Shaman mask
Coastal Yup’ik, Eskimo
St Michael or Yukon river Delta, Alaska
19th century
Carved wood, pigments
Height: 19.5 cm – 7 ½ in.
Provenance
Collection Karin & Leo (1937-1987) Van Oosterom, The Hague, acquired in 1980
Sold
Yup'ik masks were used by shamans to facilitate communication and movement between worlds (the visible and the invisible, the living and the dead, ...). Ceremonial cycles were notably undertaken to maintain proper human, animal, and spirit-world interactions.
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