Curiosity - Nepalese Humorous Mask - Primitive Art - Himalayan Sculpture - Nepal

Early 20th century Nepal – Middle Hills Private collection – South of France Carved wooden mask, carved from a dense and ancient piece, from the popular traditions of the middle hills of Nepal. It represents a stylized, almost lunar face, with deliberately unbalanced proportions: rounded forehead, angular nose, half-open mouth sketching an ambiguous smile. This figure, both laughing and strange, is part of a profane ritual register where the grotesque becomes a tool of shift, protection, or satire. Used in local ceremonies or masked performances, this type of object embodies a living art form, close to the margins, escaping the usual aesthetic canons. It touches on a more organic, raw, primitive truth: that of faces that are exaggerated to better say what is kept silent. The visible restorations, notably two pieces of wood formerly attached to the base and some structural consolidations are not defects to be hidden. They contribute to the story. As the collector Marc Petit writes in his book on primitive art: "The more it deteriorates, the more it enriches itself." Each crack, each splinter tells the story of the passage, the manipulation, the experience. It is no longer a fixed object, it is a mask that has resisted, that has lived and that, paradoxically, emerges even more expressive. It is aimed at those who know how to see beyond the artifact: at those who are overwhelmed by laughter, even broken. Iconography consulted: à masque découvert, coll. private. & visual documentation Himalaya central Dimensions: Height: 29 cm Width: 17 cm ALL DELIVERIES ARE MADE BY DHL EXPRESS ONLY!