Two Indonesian Ceremonial Dance Masks

First half 20th century, (2) likely Balinese parade masks made of polychrome painted and carved wood with movable jaws made for Barong dances (Kunti Sraya): the first is in the form of a tiger's head with straw hair, rubber ears and eyes (likely applied later), glass pupils, and a metal tongue; the second is in the form of a lion's head with stiff cloth ears and tongue, and applied fur mane and whiskers.

The taller mask 17 x 20 x 16 in.

From the Estate of the late Susan C. Frankenberg, Hillsborough, North Carolina

The Barong is a mythical beast that purifies and protects the village in Balinese culture. Masks representing the Barong are created as a sacred object of worship and usually kept in a temple. A Barong mask can take the form of a lion-like creature (most masks representing the Barong in this form are erroneous in their description of the form as a lion as there are no wild lions in Bali; however because they resemble a lion, they are often described as such), a tiger, boar, bull, deer, or an amalgamation of any of these. The ket is the chief of all barongs and acts as a potent protector against the harmful influence of ghosts on the village. Barong masks are taken out to perform dances and ceremonies on major holidays, most notably the Kunti Sraya, or Barong Dance. The dance recreates a battle between good (represented by the Barong and its followers) and evil (represented by the goddess of death, Rangda, and her followers).

Both with overall paint loss and rusting to metal nails and hinges; the tiger mask with loss to one fang and missing another, cracking and paint stains to glass pupils, old break and repair to one handle; the lion mask with insect damage to posterior, one ear with separation from head, loss to decorative straw fur to posterior.