EARLY 20TH C. BRONZE TEMPLE KALA MASK

This mask, reminiscent of Balinese ones, is nonetheless Thai.  It was hung over a temple entrance as a guardian.  It is solid gilded bronze, and very heavy.  It stands 13 inches high, 17 with the stand.   Kala is a flesh eating ogre, seen in Bali, India, Cambodia, and Thailand.  Mythical creatures get passed throughout Asia, and transformed in each country that they enter.  He is a Wednesday god, and on Wednesday night people offer him black coffee, black cakes and foodstuffs.  Anyway, this is a show stopping mask, and appeared in the NY Tribal Show.