A visibly old mask from the Javanese masks theatre ‘wayang topeng’: carved in a thin piece out of hard wood, and painted on the front side. With dark, reddish-brown skin, gold painted pupils above both of the slits for the eyes through which the masked dancer sees. With a black moustache, red lips and gold coloured teeth. The fine carving of the face, crowned by a diadem in gold and vivid colours, with an almost straight line from the forehead to the point of the protruding nose, the high-arched eyebrows and the open, slightly smiling mouth indicate that this mask figure represents a nobleman of high ancestry. The mask belongs to the popular ‘panji’ cycle and probably represents a prince of the ruling family of the Raden. On its unpainted, inner reverse side the mask shows clear traces of great age and long usage. With shiny, dark patina on the correct places, where the face of the dancer rubbed against the mask. With visible remains of the attachment of the leather piece, by which the dancer held the mask firmly in front of his face with his teeth. In addition, the reverse shows an old repair (a small piece of wood glued on with black tree resin), a minor crack at the top at the right, as well as hand-written inscriptions and remains of old collection labels of earlier owners. Overall a very good example of an old ‘wayang topeng’ mask. H: 19 cm, W: 15 cm. 19th to early 20th century. (ME)