Shaman’s Ancestor Mask

Pacific Northwest Coast Shaman’s Ancestor Mask hand carved hand painted reproduction.

Shamans in the tribes of the Pacific Coast used masks in ceremonies.

This mask represents the spirit of a human ancestor.

It is 7″ x 9″; the hair is approximately 14″ long.

This Pacific Coast Shaman’s Ancestor Mask is made of wood and horsehair.

Pacific Coast Shaman’s Ancestor Masks

This is a hand-carved and hand-painted reproduction of a Pacific Northwest Coast native carving. The original piece is in a museum.  Sourced from a ceremonial tribal mask, as used by shamans. We have other masks, such as bear, eagle, wolf, sun, hawk, and more.

Shamans in the tribes of the Pacific Northwest used carved masks in ceremonies. Such rites included commemorations of ancestors, cutting a labret, or a new tattoo. The tribes of the Pacific Coast took great pride, and gave great honor to their ancestors. They were often portrayed on totem poles as well as on masks..

We are big fans of the artwork of the tribes of the Pacific Northwest. For one thing, one of us is from NW Canada. Another one of our principals grew up near the Museum of the American Indian in New York, and fell in love with the objects that these products are based on. Sadly, the young native people of the Pacific Northwest tribes have largely discontinued the age-old traditional art of carving. Therefore, works of art like these are largely unavailable, or cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. We worked with talented wood carvers in Bali, and developed various reproductions with them. When we sold imports in the 1990s,  the majority of our customers for these museum reproductions were native American and Canadian store owners who were thrilled to have such faithful replicas of Pacific Northwest native carvings.