$MASKS

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FUNERARY MASK

Khitan Culture, China

c. 1025

This gilt bronze funerary mask, found in 1986 in a burial in Qinglongshan Township, Naiman District, Inner Mongolia, was created in repoussé relief, the features hammered out from behind. The expression is serene, as if in sleep, or death. The mask is thought to have belonged to a Khitan princess who died in the early part of the eleventh century; other artifacts recovered from the tomb include silver net clothing, a crown, gilt silver shoes and a belt.