10th century AD. An iron face mask for the cloth of a chudi shaman, showing a long embossed nose and shallow eyes; the borders folded back for attachment to a fabric background; mounted on a custom-made display stand. See Znamenski, A., The Beauty of the Primitive: Shamanism and Western Imagination, Oxford, 2007; Vadetskaya, E.B., The ancient Yenisei Masks from Siberia, Kranoyarsk, 2009.731 grams total, 28.5cm including stand (11 1/4"). Property of a London businessman; formerly in the Lithuanian private collection of V. L. in the 1980s; accompanied by an archaeological report by military specialist Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10394-169243. In various Eurasian regions particular traditions of mask making were present. The simplest ones were made of a piece of cloth, leather or paper, in which slots for eyes, nose and mouth were cut. Masks represented animal heads, faces of men or mythic characters. They often created an image of a 'scary' being or an animal with shaggy brows, thick beard, moustache, huge nose, protruding teeth, etc. Folk names of masks also indicated their demonic nature, the faces of devils or fiends.