I have read about "death masks" ... when a person would pass away, there were various types of death masks made ... common & more crude to look at were ones made from paraffin and also plaster which was actully placed on the deceased face, and removed when hardened. These were usually stored in a special and private place at home & only brought out on "special occasions" People were also commissoned to carve or paint "the likeness" of the deceased. Typically, folks had this done at various intervals throughout their life in preparation for when they passed away and THEN the practice was to have this special Portrait (painting or carved) attached to or carved as part of a tombstone or burial monument, of the deceased person. Mostly the rich sector did this, obviously. But with the invent of photography, the paintings & carvings were replaced with a glassed in photo. I, personally, have seen carving, painted portraits and photos under glass on headstones & monuents. People fancied seeing a image of their loved one as they visited the grave, plus it was a great show of respect! This 'cemetery image' made more sense than carrying the family portrait that hung over the fireplace to the church/town/familycemetery with them. And, "visiting the grave" was a much more practiced thing ... even a few decades ago, over now! (in my youth & into the early '70's family came from several states away to all meet at the cemetery on Memorial Day and then we would all go to our house for a huge feast. It was like all of these big family reunions AT the cemetery -- everyone dressed in their Sunday best, decorating graves, greeting & visiting until about 2 pm ...)With photography advances it was real commom to see actual photos on the gravestones & monuments, enclosed in glass. I have seen quite a lot of this during my cemetery searches for family history info. If there wasn't a photo of the deceased at the time of their death, I have seen photos (of the person buried), taken of them during the viewing of them in their casket and later mounted on the gravestone. That's how important it was for them to have a picture on their stone! Well, there were early problems with the photographic ,images quickly fading and also glue & sealants were not perfected, ruining the photos. But because it was now an affordable thing for all social classes, this practice reached quite a frenzy & folks worked to come up with covers and more genius ways to protect the photos. Off the subject of your mask tho - other than the importance of the images. I am not an expert but my guess is that your mask was actully attached in some fashion to a gravestone or monument at one time. Gravestones were decorated in very elegant ways, especially by certain nationalities. (velvet shrouds with awesome stitching, beading etc., done around their 'likeness'. These were placed across or the length of the casket or pine box & lowered into the grave, & covered with earth. Floods, etc. have unearthed these ... But these what I'm calling shrouds, were also placed over a grave covering for decor & respect)There is also one other thing I read about in history ... Bounty hunter's would also carry a carved image of a criminal they were searching for instead of the pen&ink drawing, painting or paper version because they had a **** of a time keeping it dry - often for months or years ... An artist that could carve such great likenesses for identification accuracy were paid a premium price and/or worked on a commission when/if the reward was collected. But, bottom line with what you have- I have a hunch, is a likeness of this sort & I doubt that it holds any voo-do. Maybe this will atleast give you some other clues to research? Thanks for the share!
