Classic Wall Hanging Mask - Tribal

The Classic Wall Hanging Mask Tribal is a stunning handcrafted Dhokra relic with a human face shape. Use it as a decorative against well-lit living room walls and enhance the beauty of your living space with an ethnic touch. The skilled Dhokra craftsmen have beautifully hand-decorated the mask with startling designs and a sun embossing on the temple and the forehead. The floral motifs are well complemented by the twirling designs and tiny speckled works on the brows, temple and on the head.

About Dhokra Art

Dhokra is one of the oldest forms of the art of metal casting. It is the tribes Gadwas, Dhurwas and Gonds who still practise the 4000-year old art, derived from which the lost wax technique is called as Dhokra. The metal workers make a living by handcrafting, moulding and casting the brass or the Dhokra, as it is regionally called.

The art originates from the central and eastern Indian states including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal being the foremost home of the metalsmiths.

The tribal group of the metal workers initially travelled from the remote interiors of West Bengal to down south, as far as Kerala and right up to Rajasthan as well.

Procedure

As the word Dhokra also describes a certain sect of the tribes who perform the art of metal casting using the lost wax techniques of solid casting and hollow casting, which initially involves treating the coarse clay mould to high temperatures in an oven or by drying in the sun.

The beeswax is drawn into stripes and fine wires in order to wrap them around the heated clay in order to produce a similar, though softer mould. The beeswax is mixed with resinous gum and then boiled in mustard oil.The model is then evenly coated with a very thin layer of wet clay, the stage that lets fine details of the replica to make an impression on the clay.

Before the clay is added to the molten metal, the clay is either heated or sundried and the mould is carefully heated to high degree centigrade until the wax melts in the process leaving a cavity behind.

The hollow cavity is then filled with a molten metal and set aside to cool off. Finally, the clay mould is broken and the object is taken out for the purpose of cleaning and polishing.

Region

The Wall Hanging Mask Tribal Female does duly depict the rich ethics of the Dhokra tribes situated in the Central and Eastern regions of India that stretches from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh to Orissa and West Bengal.

goroots provides a concrete backing to the Dhokra craftsmen in the remote interiors of the culture-rich states of India. We encourage the ability of the tribal handicraft artisans and genuinely support their efforts through our website.