Seneca, Iroquois, northeastern North America
Circa 1880
Basswood, tin, horsehair, cordage
Mask height 12" (30.5 cm); with hair 23" (58.4 cm)
Provenance: Private Southern California collection; old label on reverse inscribed "received 6/22/26 pur. from Mrs. Joe Silversmith"
The False Face Society is one of the most significant medicine societies within Iroquois ceremonial life, its members wearing carved wooden masks during healing ceremonies to drive away disease-causing spirits and restore health to the community. Masks of this type, known as gagosah in Seneca, were understood as living beings rather than objects, carved from the living wood of a basswood tree and imbued with spiritual power through their making and use. The Seneca, the westernmost nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, maintained one of the most active False Face traditions among the Six Nations peoples of the northeastern woodlands.
This mask is carved from basswood with tin eye plates, horsehair, and cordage attachments intact, the combination of materials consistent with Seneca False Face production of the late 19th century. The tin eye plates reflect the incorporation of trade materials into an established ceremonial form, a practice documented across Iroquois mask production from the mid-19th century onward. The overall form, with its characteristic deep-set eyes, distorted facial features, and hair attachments, follows the conventions of the False Face tradition that encoded specific spiritual identities within the carving.
The label on the reverse, inscribed "received 6/22/26 pur. from Mrs. Joe Silversmith," provides a documented acquisition date of 1926 and a named source, placing the mask within the period of early 20th century collecting of Iroquois ceremonial material. The Silversmith surname is documented among Seneca families of the period, connecting the label to a plausible indigenous source within the community. The subsequent Southern California private collection provenance provides a further documented holding history for the piece.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Seneca, Iroquois, northeastern North America
Circa 1880
Basswood, tin, horsehair, cordage
Mask height 12" (30.5 cm); with hair 23" (58.4 cm)
Provenance: Private Southern California collection; old label on reverse inscribed "received 6/22/26 pur. from Mrs. Joe Silversmith"
The False Face Society is one of the most significant medicine societies within Iroquois ceremonial life, its members wearing carved wooden masks during healing ceremonies to drive away disease-causing spirits and restore health to the community. Masks of this type, known as gagosah in Seneca, were understood as living beings rather than objects, carved from the living wood of a basswood tree and imbued with spiritual power through their making and use. The Seneca, the westernmost nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, maintained one of the most active False Face traditions among the Six Nations peoples of the northeastern woodlands.
This mask is carved from basswood with tin eye plates, horsehair, and cordage attachments intact, the combination of materials consistent with Seneca False Face production of the late 19th century. The tin eye plates reflect the incorporation of trade materials into an established ceremonial form, a practice documented across Iroquois mask production from the mid-19th century onward. The overall form, with its characteristic deep-set eyes, distorted facial features, and hair attachments, follows the conventions of the False Face tradition that encoded specific spiritual identities within the carving.
The label on the reverse, inscribed "received 6/22/26 pur. from Mrs. Joe Silversmith," provides a documented acquisition date of 1926 and a named source, placing the mask within the period of early 20th century collecting of Iroquois ceremonial material. The Silversmith surname is documented among Seneca families of the period, connecting the label to a plausible indigenous source within the community. The subsequent Southern California private collection provenance provides a further documented holding history for the piece.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
