Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 16. (Budapest, 1997)
ASZTALOS Zoltán-KELÉNYI Béla: Egy mongol rituális táncmaszk restaurálása
paratively slowly. Its spread in Inner Mongolia is mentioned in the records as early as 1750. In Buryatia it appeared in 1788, the year the first lama monastery was founded. In Outer Mongolia, however, such dances were performed regularly after 1811. 8 In most of Mongolia's monasteries the tsam was well known and popular, and was generally performed once or twice a year. The last dance was in Urga, in 1937. 9 In Mongolia the content of the dance ceremonies underwent a fundamental change, 10 since they had numerous, expressly Mongolian origin participants. At the centre-point of the most famous dance, the so-called Erlik-tsam, stood the Lord of Death, Erlik khan (Mong: Erlig qayan, Tib: gShin-rje, Sanskrit: Yama). n The dance, which is mostly performed in masks of deities with angry countenances (Mong: doysid; Tib: khro-bo), in essence showe how the Defender of the Law deities (Mong: Öoijin; Tib: chos-skyong, Sanskrit: dharmapäla) overcome the enemies of the Buddhist Teaching. The participants come out of the temple (Mong: süme) in a definite order. 12 One important participant in the dance is the "Glorious Goddess" (Mong: Coy-tu Ökin tengri; Tib: dPal-ldan Lha-mo, Sanskrit: Srïdevï), u who wears the mask shown here. This is one of the most important Defender of the Law deities in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, and is very popular among Tibetans and Mongolians. 14 In line with the iconographical prescriptions, the background colour of the papiermâché mask is dark blue. On the head is a five-pronged skull-crown; the hair stands on end. The goddess has three eyes, and her eyebrows are in flames. She is showing her fangs. From the general representations of deities with angry countenances, she is distinguished by a parasol of peacock feathers and a human figure visible between her fangs. During the course of restoration, infra-red examinations showed that below the coat of paint from the beginning of the 20th century were a number of earlier layers. It is therefore certain that the mask could have been made in teh 19th century. Since the monasteries producing masks had their own distinctive styles, 15 it is likely that a mask of this size and quality was made in one of the largest Urga monasteries, in Gandan. 16 (B.K.) Restoration of the artefact The mask reached the Museum in extremely bad condition. It was heavily infested with insects (anobium punctatum), the lower part of left ear was broken off and the upper rim parts of the left and right ears were missing. The upper part of one of the pieces of the five-pronged skull-crown had cracked, and the painted surface-layer had come away from the wooden supports holding the skull. Signs of earlier repairs were discernible on the mask. On the back section, parts which had come away had been stuck back using paper and glue, and in a number of cases these had been repainted. There had been little base surface on the insectinfested parts, and these layers had been chewed into dust. Consequently, it was easy to see how the structure of the mask had been built up. chalk and glue textile layer of dust pigments ( repeated repaintings) On the broken-off ear part it was possible to deduce the base, the structure of the layers on top of the base, the nature of the adhesives used, and the character of the various repaintings that had taken place. After removal of the embellishments (the components of the skull-crown, hair, earrings), I conducted a solubility test in a place which was little visible. 17 Preliminary investigations proved that formaldehyde was needed to disinfect the mask. 18 Afterwards
