Lot 790

Amazonian Ticuna Bark Cloth Spirit Mask, Upper Amazon

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Amazonian Ticuna Bark Cloth Spirit Mask, Upper Amazon

Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500

Current Bid: $500

(1 Bid)

by Artemis Fine Arts
July 30, 2026 8:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

South America, Upper Amazon, Ticuna culture, ca. mid-20th century CE. A hooded mask of pounded tree-bark cloth (llanchama) crowned by a carved and painted animal face. The features gather into a beast-spirit with large ear flaps and a wood snout set with pointed teeth. Dark lines trail down the tubular hood, the whole worn over the head. Such masks belonged to the Tikuna Worecu, the girl's puberty rite, in which masked figures representing forest and water spirits danced to guide the initiate through her transformation. Size: 8" W x 13" H x 10" D (20.3 cm W x 33.0 cm H x 25.4 cm D).

The Tikuna (also Ticuna or Maguta) inhabit the tri-border region of the Amazon where Brazil, Colombia, and Peru meet. Their masks are fashioned from llanchama, an inner bark beaten into a supple sheet, then painted with plant-derived pigments and fitted with carved wooden faces. During the Worecu, or "New Girl" ceremony, marking a girl's first menstruation and her passage into adulthood, dancers don such masks to personify the noo, ancestral and animal spirits whose presence both protects and tests the initiate. The zoomorphic character here, with its flaring ears and toothed grin, likely evokes a forest creature drawn from Tikuna cosmology, in which humans, animals, and spirits share a permeable world.

Publication: This mask is published on Masks of the World (masksoftheworld.com) in the Colombian masks section, where it is identified as a crowned Tukuna mask from the Amazon used in the Worecü initiation ceremony.

Provenance: private Las Vegas, Nevada, USA collection, acquired in 2003

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Item # 203654

  • Condition: Missing several teeth. Some discoloration as expected with use. Intact and very good, comes with display stand.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $749 $25
$750 $1,499 $50
$1,500 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $7,499 $250
$7,500 $14,999 $500
$15,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000