Trying to ID. Real or knockoff?

Any ideas? Wood is fairly light. Cannot find markings that would indicate handmade, but they don't look to me to be from Indonesia or Bali. Any thoughts?

 

Think you have the wrong continent.

Debora

 

Sorry, I thought Inuit was a native tribe? I guess this is strictly for African art?

 

@all_fakes @komokwa

 

Inuit? You're joking, right?

The Tribal Art forum is for tribal in general. For some reason it is also used for non-tribal non-Western.

 

I think @Debora meant the reference to Bali/Asia was the wrong continent. You are in the right forum.

To me, at first blush, they appear to be tourist items perhaps from Mexico, or even Central America, e.g., guatemala, or northern S.A., e.g., ecuador. The first one appears the most to me like Mexican origin. The content reminds of 'festival' type masks representing what appears to be jaguar, and snake. The dark eyes remind me of tribal face paint of Aztec (more Day of the Dead actually), but they are definitely modern.

Not inuit, agree. Other than Mexico being on the N.A. continent, not Native American from North America. [edit: uh, thank you all for not pointing out that my reference to "North Americas" prior to deleting the 's' might lead one to ask "what other North America are you referring to? North North America and South North America?" )

 

Well, no. I have no idea where they are from. They were donated where I work at the same time as a seal skin coat, so my poor over-tired brain was thinking Alaska. Sorry if I offended you.

 

Agree.

I am sorry, I seriously thought you were joking. Especially since your avatar name is Aztek, which I thought alluded to Aztec, much closer to the origin.

 

No one's offended and apologies to you for my terse reply. They're from Latin America but where I dunno. México is certainly a possibility. And they do appear to be decorative, meaning they were meant for display rather than use.

Debora

 

Novica sells this mask, similar in style to the jaguar above, claimed to be from Mexico. [edit... well "similar" is quite relative, since its not really all that similar, actually ... in the grand scheme, let's say.]

 

True. It does allude to that in a roundabout way. (Grant Morrison comic). I've been so busy lately I can't think straight. As soon as Dawnno said Mexico I had a HUGE duh moment. I'd gotten so stuck with the seal/Alaska thought I couldn't get past it.

I think i need to clock out and go rest. My wires are seriously crossed...

 

That is awesome.

 

I couldn't resist posting this description:


"Retro Mayan Aztec ..." That must've been, what, the Olmec??? since the Retro Aztec ... are the Toltec?

[What a geek joke.]

 

Sleep tight, you deserve it.

 

As others have said, not Inuit or Native American, but Latin American, a souvenir-type mask.

 

with the jaguar and snake , mexico isn't a stretch ....