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This is an exceptional old, wooden ritual mask from the people of the lowland areas of southern Nepal. It is hand carved in a heavy wood, and then painted with vivid colors in the traditional  style. This Mask is Kali, the wrathful and very revered form of the Mother Goddess. She has a black complexion, she has a gape jawed, leering grin, and no doubt the masker would have held a long cloth tongue extending from the mouth that would sway and gyrate disconcertingly with the masker's steps and movements. The mask is in structurally sound but there are scuffs to the paint and an there are indigenous repairs to the wood on the jaw and on the area behind the crown (not visible from the front), which do not threaten the piece, nor does it detract from it any notable way.

In festivities where masked dancers reenact the Hindu mythological epics, Kali is one of the most popular characters, so mask collectors and Kali devotees will find this very appealing because it is a very high quality example of the important Goddess genre.

Kali is the form of the great Mother Goddess which is simultaneously nurturing and wrathful, repugnant and enticing, terrifying and protective. She wants the best for her devotees, who are like her own beloved children. She can propel the devout to the extreme heights of bliss and enlightenment and along the way she will mercilessly crush anything or anyone who gets in the way - utterly annihilating obstacles to enlightenment.