Producer unknown to us
Ritual object
Asia, Sri Lanka
Prior to 1891
Wood, carved
Carl Hagenbeck (animal trader, organised “Völkerschauen“)
Purchased by the museum from Hagenbeck in 1891
SAs 5246
This mask is still used today in the kolam, the eponymous folk theater located on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka. At the beginning of each performance, a pair of lions dressed in masks and costumes perform their dance to the delight of the mythical royal couple who, according to tradition, once initiated the kolam. The lion, singhaya, has a high symbolic value in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). The majority population of the island nation traces its origins to the North Indian lion family. As an animal trader, zoo director, and organizer of the so-called 'Völkerschauen', or 'human zoos', Carl Hagenbeck also sold ethnographica to ethnological museums in his day. His mask collection was processed in 1993 as part of a cooperative project with researchers from Sri Lanka.
Carola Krebs