Any idea? Age? Identify?

I want to buy it today.

 

It was made in India.

 

Is very old?

 

I have no idea, it could have been left outside for years. Just because something looks worn and neglected, it doesn't mean it is antique.

Probably the head for something like this, a horse dance from Rajasthan:


https://mumbaikerr.blogspot.com/2012/02/rajasthan-horse-dance.html

But a cow version.

 

you know a lot Debora, have you studied folk art?

 

I think your mean @Any Jewelry not Debora and... She certainly does know a lot. One of the forum's treasures.

Debora

 

You are very good, I got a lot of help here. And I am proud of you

 

As are you!

 

More of a lifelong interest, inherited from my mother.

 

Such masks seem to be primarily decorative, representing Nandi the bull, the mount of the Hindu god Shiva -

https://www.google.com/search?q=vii...g&ei=7JiqZYWJIqyMp84PxI67sA4&bih=690&biw=1458

And then there is this -

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/04/women-india-cow-masks-sexual-violence-sacred-cattle

 

I agree, there is a lot of painted wooden stuff coming out of India made to look old. As a collector of Anglo Indian antiques (export market) I know very little of their domestic antique market or what prices they make in India but the global market is really only interested in the very fine work they produced for rich Westerners, these items were very expensive at the time, they were made and produced by very few, highly skilled craftsmen, taking months to create. It seems a lot of inexperienced people both in India and around the world are mixing up old crude works for the high end stuff that fetches high prices. The truth is India doesn't really have any of their fine works outside of big houses and museums and if they were for sale and unrecognized a lot of Indians would know exactly what they were. I have looked on ebay in India for treasures for 14 years and found only 2, both were badly damaged and very over priced. The UK, Europe and the US were the only people wealthy enough to afford them at the time they were produced and as such these are the countries who have them in large numbers now.