Wayang Kulit Shadow puppet from Java, Indonesia, mid-20th century.
Water buffalo hide body painted with water-based paints, with bamboo handle.  (14" h. x 24" w. x 1/2" d., 23" h. including handle).

Wayang Kulit Shadow puppet from Java, Indonesia, mid-20th century.
Water buffalo hide body painted with water-based paints, with bamboo handle.  (14" h. x 24" w. x 1/2" d., 22 1/2“ h. including handle).

By Nancy Dyesi - Capetown, South Africa
Glass beads, cotton fabric.
(9" h. x 10 1/2" l.)

Nairobi, Kenya
2012, 2017
Recycled metal, wire, glass beads (5 3/4" h. x 3 1/2"w. x 6 3/4" l.).
Exact colors and details will vary.

By Phatiswe Ncopayi - Capetown, South Africa
Glass beads, cotton fabric.
(16 1/2" h. x 5" w. x 2" d.)

Nairobi, Kenya
2017
Recycled metal, wire, glass beads (3 3/4" h. x 7" w. x 8" l.).
Exact colors and design details may vary.

Ndebele Ceremonial Doll - large (#ndb-03d)
Ndebele People - South Africa
Cotton fabric, glass beads, string, plastic "wire"
(18 to 19" h.) Assorted colors and designs.

Ndebele People - South Africa
Cotton and synthetic fabric, glass beads, metal wire, plastic "wire"
(14 1/2" h. x 5" w. x 5" d.) Assorted colors and designs.

Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico,
Mid-20th century.
Molded papier maché mask.  Made on traditional clay mask mold.
(8 1/4” h. x 5 3/4” w. x 3” d.).
Purchased in Mexico c.1985

Inexpensive masks of paper or pasteboard (máscaras de cartón), formed over a pottery mold and then painted, have been made in Mexico for perhaps a century or longer. Máscaras Mexicanas, a book featuring photographs of Mexican masks, was initially published in Mexico City in about 1926, with a prologue by Roberto Montenegro. There are about 20 of these paper mache masks in the book, along with others of wood and pre-Conquest masks made of other materials such as stone. Moya Rubio included a selection of these masks in plate 188, on page 157 ( Máscaras: la Otra Cara, 1986). Notes from  the late Bryan Stevens, 2018