Hardly any masks appear in China’s old ‘high culture’. The performers in the renowned Peking opera are mainly made-up, and hardly wear masks. This is completely different with the minorities in the south of China, with the Miao, Dong, Yao, Maonan etc. Perhaps as a result of earlier Shamanism and its rites to ward off evil spirits, in the areas occupied by the aforementioned groups a rich and varied reservoir of masks has survived since the Han and Tang periods. For the same reason, the popular ‘Nuo theatre’, also known as ‘Nuo opera’, of those tribes in southern China is familiar with a large number of mask types. The three present masks, all three painted on the front with dark red, black and white lacquer, dyed black on the back, belong to this southern Chinese ‘Nuo theater’.
1: A sort of ‘Devil’s mask’ with horns, protruding eyes, under which the slits for the eyes for the masked dancer are present, as well as with accentuated fang teeth.
Height: 25 cm; width: 15.5 cm.
2: Mask of an ‘old man’, with cap, friendly smiling face and long beard made of plant fibres. In a white-rimmed medallion, on the cap in yellow characters, the word ‘Fu’, which means ‘luck, blessings and wealth’.
Height: 29, 5 cm (without beard); width: c. 15 cm.
3: A ‘Nuo’ mask, with a broad and friendly smiling face. On the forehead it displays a white-rimmed medallion with a black painted character ‘Fo’ (=Buddha).
Height: 22 cm; width: 15 cm. All three ‘Nuo’ masks display, on the outer edges of their black backsides, areas that have become shiny from a comparatively old usage patina, where the cheeks and chin of the mask bearer rubbed for an extended time. No significant damage.
Older, original ‘Nuo’ masks are rare.
First half of the 20th century. (ME)

Provenance:
French private collection; Austrian private collection.