Pastolik, Yukon River, Mouth, Alaska, United States, North America
Accession Date:
1880
Notes:
FROM CARD: "SMALL OVAL MASK PAINTED WHITE - RIGHT EYE AND MOUTH ARE ROUND. LEFT EYE A DOWNWARDS CRESCENT SURROUNDED BY A PATCH OF RED AND SPOTTED WHITE-3 FEATHERS. INVENTORIED 1977. LOAN: U.S.I.A. INUA JUN 24 1988. LOAN RETURNED DEC 28 1990." FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN BAE 18TH AR, PT. 1; PL. XCV-4; P. 396. LOANED: OSAKA EXPO-70 JULY 69 - JAN. 71. RETURNED DECEMBER 7, 1970."
ILLUS.: INUA CATALOGUE (USIA 1988); PL. 1 (UNDER INCORRECT # 43770). USIA Inua catalogue identifies as: Tunghak mask, wood, length 21 cm.. "This mask represents an evil spirit or tunghak. Unattached to a material object, as in the case of inuas, these spririts roamed about causing evil. They were seen only by shamans who would chase them from the village. This mask is thought to represent the spirit of the mountains (Ray 1967:54). The mask displays lunar imagery with one eye in the shape of a full moon while the reddened eye is the new, or crescent-shaped, moon. Originally many long strands of caribou hair spewed forth from the mask's mouth."
