MASK FROM THE GIGAKU THEATER

LIKELY BARAMON TYPE (A BRAHMIN) JAPAN

Wood, pigments, lacquer. Height : 30 cm, width : 19,5 cm.

Estimated date : Heian era (795-1185 A.D.) - early Kamakura era (1185-1333 A.D.), Circa 11th-12th century A.D. Note : the radiocarbon wood dating test result (Ciram) : 1032 – 1160 A.D. is consistent with this estimated date.

HISTORY OF COLLECTION REPORTED TO US :

Private collection, Japan, before 1941, Galerie Arts du Japon, Paris, France, Private French collection, acquired from the above in 1978.

PUBLICATION :

Sale Catalog, Gōmeigaishu nishiharaikutarō shoten, Japan, 1941. Illustrated next to another Gigaku mask (Rikishi type, a guardian), a mask dated from the very early Kamakura era now kept in the National Museum of Nara, Japan.

This remarkable Gigaku theater mask, presumably depicting the character Baramon, a Brahmin, comes from a private French collection where it has been carefully preserved for over four decades. A rediscovered masterpiece, its history is found earlier in 1941 in Japan, illustrated in a sales catalog alongside another Gigaku mask (Rikishi, a guardian), a famous work now housed in the National Museum in Nara, Japan. Both are described in the catalog in a similar way, “Red lacquered carved wooden mask of the Tenpyo era”, a misjudgment of the date at the time as it is obviously towards the end of the Heian era - beginning of the Kamakura era that these two masks were conceived. The Nara Museum Rikishi and our Baramon share not only a common ancient provenance, a similar estimated date, but also many specificities of realization, among which the virtuosity and the great mastery of their carving, the same type of pigmentation of a deep and intense red applied on their face, or the same type of smooth finish covered with a dark lacquer on the carving of their inner face. As with the Rikishi in the Nara Museum, it is therefore likely that our Baramon is also one of the few extant examples of Gigaku masks designed by the influential Buddhist master carvers of Nara around the end of the Heian era - beginning of the Kamakura era.

Important Masque R Gion Du Delta Du Fleuve Ramu

PROVINCE DE L’EST SÉPIK, PAPOUASIE NOUVELLE GUINÉE

Bois sculpté, pigments, fibres. Hauteur : 68 cm. Datation estimée : 19e siècle – début du 20e siècle.

HISTORIQUE DE COLLECTION TRANSMIS : John J. Klejman, New York, USA, Collection Wright, New York, USA, acquis du précédent le 15 décembre 1966.

EXPOSITIONS ET PUBLICATIONS :

National Gallery of Art, Washington, The Art of the Pacific Islands, exposé du 1er juillet au 14 octobre 1979, The Art of the Pacific Islands, Peter Gathercole, Adrienne L. Kaeppler, et Douglas Newton, Washington, D.C., 1979, p. 297, catalogue numéro 22.8, L’art océanien, Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Christian Kaufmann, et Douglas Newton, éditions Citadelles-Mazenod, Paris, 1993, p. 483, catalogue numéro 620, Oceanic Art, Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Christian Kaufmann, and Douglas Newton, New York, 1997, p. 483, catalogue numéro 620.