Celebrating their 250th Anniversary, the Manufacture Horlogere – Geneve, VACHERON CONSTANTINBARBIER-MUELLER MUSEUM teamed up with – Geneva to release the TRIBAL MASK WATCHES: Metiers d’Art Les Masques.
Their first collaborative set was four series of limited edition Tribal Mask Watches released in 2007 featuring Masks of China’s Qidan, Congo’s Mahongwe, Alaska’s Tlingit Indians and Indonesia’s Wayang Topeng.
It was then followed by the next four tribal mask watches in 2008, featuring Masks of Japan’s Buddha, Gabon’s Kwele, Mexico’s Maya and Papua New Guinea’s Low Ramu.
In June 2009, VACHERON CONSTANTIN completed the collections by releasing the third set of Metier d’Art Le Masque 2009: China, Indonesia, Mexico, and Gabon Tribal Mask Watches.
Here is the complete series of VACHERON CONSTANTIN METIERS D’ART LES MASQUES as exhibited at the METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART in New York, June 2009, entitled “A Legacy of Collecting: African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva” in tribute to Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller.
French writer MICHEL BUTOR contributed his poetic phrase to adorn the collections.
2007 – FIRST SET of Metiers d’Art “Les Masques”
CHINA MASK
Death Mask
Qidan people, Liao dynasty (907-1125)
Gilded bronze, excavation patina
Height: 24.5 cm
Former collection of Michael Steinhardt
Inv. 221-52
China Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Les Masques
The light is concentrated
in the gold where I close my eyes
through my eyelids I see
the sleep of my descendants
I slip into their dreams
to give them my news
and light up the impasses
where adversity lies in wait
Michel Butor
It is difficult not to be moved by the pure beauty of this death mask. This serene face with its closed eyes invites one to reflect on life after life. It testifies to the extreme refinement of the Liao dynasty, founded in 907 by the Qidan chief Yelu Abaoki – later the Emperor Taizong – and totally destroyed two centuries later. Although they adopted a number of Chinese customs, and despite the strong influence of Buddhism, the Qidan, who came from Inner Mongolia, preserved their own culture and Shamanistic beliefs.
CONGO MASK
Death Mask
Republic of the Congo, upper reaches of the Likuala River
Mahongwé or Ngaré people
Semi-hard polychrome wood (black, white and red)
Height: 35.5 cm
Former collections of Aristide Courtois (before 1930)
Charles Ratton and MoMA, New York (1939)
Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva
Inv. 1021-33
Congo Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Les Masques
They wanted to deepen the shadow
where you will set your eyes
so that the fl ashes of sun
and flames will penetrate further
with their arrows to tattoo
not only your face
and the skin of your whole body
but the secrets of your night
Michel Butor
This is one of the most celebrated masks of African art and a prime example of Central African sculpture. It was long believed that this mask had inspired Picasso for one of the figures in his painting, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. This theory was abandoned around 1980 when some in depth research showed that the mask was imported into Europe after the celebrated work had been painted. Stylistically, little is known about this mask, which is unique in its genre. Nobody knows which people in north-western Congo – the Ngaré or Mahongwé – actually made it.
ALASKA MASK
Frontal Mask
North-west coast of the United States, Tlingit Indians
19th century
Polychrome wood. Height: 18 cm
Collected by Lieutenant Emmons around 1900
Former collection Heye Foundation
Museum of the American Indians, New York
Inv. 921-A
Alaska Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Les Masques
If I stick out my tongue
it is to show the trust
I have in you
following your movements
on the sea between storms and in
forests between vast conifers
on which your genealogical myths
will be inscribed
Michel Butor
The Tlingit are an Amerindian people from the north-west coast of America. This small mask, adorned with tufts of horse hair across the top, was fastened to a large fibre headdress sometimes covered with animal skins and worn on the forehead by shamans when they performed their functions as medicine men. Through their intervention with supernatural powers, they healed the sick, drove off sorcerers and protected the village against outside aggression. According to tradition, young men training to be shamans had to leave their community and spend eight days searching for their vision. At their approach, animals stuck out their tongues, which were believed to contain the power of their spirit.
INDONESIA MASK
Facial Mask
Wayang Topeng theatre
Island of Java, Indonesia
Polychrome wood (white, black, several shades of red)
Height: 21 cm
Former collection of Professor Czeschka, Hamburg;
acquired before 1918
Inv. 330-A
Indonesia Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Les Masques
Bewitcher I observe
the shapes of girls who pass
my eyebrows are like a bird
ready to take wing and circle
its prey, my moustache
like a serpent ready
to strike at the least sign
of weakness or assent
Michel Butor
You only have to look at it: the distinction of the face, the elegance of its features, the sophistication of its hairstyle, the richness of its ornaments, the subtlety of its beard, the refinement of the make-up, the delicacy of the arabesques – a dominant motif in Javanese art – everything points to the noble character of the person represented by the mask. Sculpted in light wood and painted with bright colours, this mask bears a close resemblance to the face of the virtuous Prince Panji, an heroic figure of Wayang Topeng, Javanese masked theatre. Traditionally, performers of Wayang Topeng hold their masks by gripping a leather strip between their teeth. As they say nothing, it is left to the narrators and singers to develop the plot and recount the adventures of the heroes.
2008 - SECOND SET of Metiers d’Art “Les Masques”
JAPAN MASK
Ritual Buddha Mask
End of the Edo period, second half of 19th century
Lacquered wood, gilded and blue pigments
Height: 27 cm
Inv. 229-5
Les Masques Japan Buddha Mask by Vacheron Constantin
From the unimaginable distance
where I savour eternity
I hear the echo of your cries
to console you I send
the reverberations of my gongs
the hope of re-finding your kin
after so many metamorphoses
on the paths of my bounty
Michel Butor
This mask emanates gentleness and serenity with its moonlike face, lowered eyes and full cheeks framed with long curved, stylized ears. The nose and mouth are realistically drawn. The intense blue of the chignon coiffure, comprising a multitude of small embossed curls sculpted in wood, contrasts with the gilded face. The mask appears to represent Amida Nyorai, which means “infinite light” or “infinite life”; he is one of the five great Buddhas of wisdom who guide believers to a second life after death. The profile of this particular figure, dating from the 19th century, brings to mind the face of the famous great Buddha statue in the Kamakura sanctuary in Japan.
GABON MASK
Pibibuze Mask
Kwélé people
Polychrome semi-hard wood, aged patina
Height: 25.4 cm
Collected before 1930
Former Tristan Tzara collection
Inv. 1019-80
Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Les Masques 2008
Gabon’s Pipibuze Mask Watch
I have stored in my heart
all the phases of the Moon
my mouth has been effaced
only my eyes can express themselves
in the incense of the nights of waiting
to show the Sun
and all its lost children
the road of their deliverance
Michel Butor
This pibibuze (man) mask belongs to a group of four different kinds of masks, three of which represent animals (a gorilla, an elephant and an antelope). Without horns or appendages, the fourth kind, “man”, is rarer. These four kinds of masks would have been ordered at the birth of a boy and embody a spirit of nature that would accompany him during various rites of passage throughout his life. Most often blind, these masks were probably not intended to be worn on the face of a dancer, but rather to be displayed in cult houses or held during ceremonies.
MEXICO MASK
Fragment of a Mask-shaped censer
Maya civilisation. 550-950 AD
(According to the thermoluminescence test: 100-800 AD)
Ceramic
Height: 25.5 cm
Former John Huston collection
Inv. 502-6
Les Masques Mexico’s Mayan Mask by Vacheron Constantin
My nostrils feel the incense
that will rise on the steps
restoring life to my old age
so I may distribute
my benedictions on the town
whose pyramids rise above
the singing trees
in the lands of the wind
Michel Butor
Believed to be a piece of the chimney of an “incense burner”, this fragment is not so much a “mask” as an extremely sensitive portrait. The features of the bearded face, sculpted with considerable attention to proportion and volume, suggest the artist’s deliberate attempt at naturalism. This portrait seems to be of a Maya noble with a pearl fixed to the cartilage of his nose. The ornament is characteristic of the old classical period.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA MASK
Brag Mask
Low Ramu area
Hard wood, pigments, Conus sp. shells
Height: 40.8 cm
Inv. 4099-32
Vacheron Constantin Metiers d’Art Les Masques 2008 Papua New Guinea Mask Watch
Your astonishment at existing
amidst so much fortune
is given shape by me questioning
the sound of the rain on the leaves
to murmur secrets to you
that will help you last
a few months or a few years
to tell your adventures
Michel Butor
This mask has the zoomorphic and anthropomorphic characteristics of masks from the mouth of the Sepik river; its diverse forms all have a long nose evoking a bird’s beak or an insect’s proboscis. This mask is a masculine representation of aggressive ancestor-spirits, one of whose functions was to devour adolescents during their initiations before returning them to their mothers by vomiting them up again, transformed into young adults. Until the white man arrived, each male was integrated into society through initiation rites at which he learned how to separate himself from the world of women and mothers and forged a personal relationship with his powerful masculine ancestor.
2009: PRESENTATION OF THE THIRD AND FINAL SET of Metiers d’Art “Les Masques”
OCEANIA - INDONESIA
Facial Mask
Island of Lombok, Sasak people
Hard wood, traces of white pigments
Height: 21.5 cm
Former collection of Mathias Komor
Inv. 3320-A
Indonesia’s Sasak Facial Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metier d’Art Les Masques
I dance the duration the wait
patience the resistance
to suffering and to evil
the slowness of the days and nights
stammerings recognition
resignation but vigilance
the hasty passage of the months
and the devouring of the months
Michel Butor
With its air of bewilderment, this mask has both realistic and geometrical features and is dominated by the large eyes. It clearly represents an old man with its sunken cheeks, dark rings under the eyebrows, and especially the wrinkles that furrow its brow and the folds between the nose and mouth. These wrinkles animate the face and help give dramatic expression to the character, which seems to raise its eyebrows and half-open its mouth in amazement. The old man was a regular character in Balinese Wayang Topeng theatre. The masked actors did not speak because they had to hold their masks between their teeth with a leather thong. It was therefore left to the narrators and singers to describe the intrigue and recount the heroes’ adventures.
ASIA - CHINA
Zangs-‘Bag facial Mask
Tibet region, Tantric Buddhism. 16th–17th century
Partially-gilt copper, pigments
Height: 22.2 cm
Inv. 2504-168
China Zang’s Bag Facial Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metier d’Art Les Masques
With my ornaments I surround
the emptiness opening in your eyes
and in your mouth a third
eye appearing on the forehead
to guide you in your labours
in the labyrinth of your lives
and those of your children
who continue your adventures
Michel Butor
A mystery, even a profound sacredness, seems to emanate from this half-empty mask. And yet the highly naturalistic nose reminds us that this figure with its frozen expression has a human side. The divine is expressed by the strange mandorla, positioned like a jewel on the forehead of the mask and enclosing a painted eye. A beautifully designed frieze of gold-covered arabesques and scrolls frames the empty spaces. This type of zangs-’bag mask was worn by certain monks from the dGe-lugs-pa yellow hat sect. The masks were used in dances linked to the cult of Kâlacakra (the Wheel of Time).
AMERICAS - MEXICO
Pendant Mask
State of Guerrero
Mezcala culture (300 – 100 BC)
Basalt
Height: 12.8 cm
Inv. 505-26
Mexico Mescala’s Pendant Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metier d’Art Les Masques
At regular intervals
during the dance I come and strike
the heart whose pulse
races at the screams
reverberating off the walls
that protect us from the ghosts
of felines and enemies
who venture onto our land
Michel Butor
Blending the influences of several cultures in a singular style, this pendant mask conveys all the artist’s virtuosity. Its powerful and austere profile comprises both abstract and naturalistic features. The upper part of the face and the diagonal of the cheek are treated in a minimalist fashion; by contrast, the aquiline nose and down-turned mouth seem far more realistic. This mask belongs to the Mezcala culture. During the classical period, it was the custom of these people to bury their dead under the mud floors of their dwellings. In accordance with a ritual related to the ancestral worship of the dead, the tombs were full of small hard-stone sculptures of asexual human figures, heads, plaques decorated with faces, masks, and animal effigies.
AFRICA - GABON
Ngontang Mask
Western Gabon, Fang people
Soft wood covered with white kaolin, specks of crystallisation
Height: 31 cm
Inv. 1019-76
Gabon Fang’s Mask Watch - Vacheron Constantin Metier d’Art Les Masques
The line of my nose extending
between the eyebrows on my forehead
and on the other side to
my chin across my mouth
is like an arrow fi red
by a bow towards the celestial heights
beyond the clouds
or naturally the bird
into which your soul changes
Michel Butor
The sobriety of this white mask, with its melancholic air and o-shaped mouth, shows the sculptor’s remarkable sensitivity. It is covered with white kaolin, a colour that for the Fang, as for many other African tribes, referred to the spirit of the dead. The expressive power of the face is produced by the vertical line suggesting the nose as well as the scarifications from the chin to the forehead and from which two welldefined, curved eyebrows branch out. This mask was used in a ritual dance linked to the Byeri’s cult of ancestor worship. Although its use did not have any particularly religious significance, the initiated dancer had to respect certain ritual gestures and taboos. These dances were intended to protect the village from witchcraft and evil influences.
| The making of || Complete Set |
| 2007: First Set | | 2008: Second Set | | 2009: Final Set |
| Share | |
Delicious | | 
| | 
| |
Post a Comment