Busacca Gallery

This is an old and fascinating find from Tibet. A wooden mache wall mask in the form of 9 Mahakhala haeds. The Wrathful Deity. This mask measures 20x12 inches and is a vintage example. What you're looking at is a very rare and unusual work of tribal art. Rare Antique Tribal Tibetan skull Hand-Carved wooden Mask / Buddhist rites are characterised by the use of ritual masks. This mask is a tibetan Citipati mask depicting Mahakala. The skull mask of Citipati is a reminder of the impermanence of life and the eternal cycle of life and death.

Link: http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=A_Brief_Introduction_to_Tibetan_Masks

According to Tibetan manuscripts and the consensus of experts, the origin of Tibetan mask art is closely related to the creation of Tibetan primitive Bonism, laws and Tibetan script as well as to the bSam-yas Monastery, the first in the history of Tibet. The history of this art form can be traced back before the sixth century.







Tibetan Buddhist Masks / Masks are used in communal rituals, shamanistic practices as well as theatrical performances. It’s all about transforming one’s identity.





Masks in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition are used as a means to transform identity -just as in many other cultures all over the world. In this tradition, a form of masked, sacred monastic dance was developed (called Cham lama dance).Often performed in the central courtyard of a monastery, the Cham is danced by monks and nuns, on the rhythm of bone trumpets, horns from copper, cymbals, and chants.

The masked actors represent past Buddhist teachers & saints, wrathful deities, animal deities such as the deer, demons, skeletons, and other characters.

They whirl around in an allegorical dance about the victory of Buddhism over the negative powers and demons.