Description
A Crab Yokai Crown yokai mask, handmade in white, depicting a wide crustacean-form yokai with bulbous eyes, an open jaw of downward teeth and a heavily perforated carapace surface.
The form sits low and broad rather than upright, the silhouette closer to a ritual crown than a conventional mask, the piece designed to be viewed from the front and above as much as straight on. The white mineral finish is sealed across a surface of compression marks, natural cracking and deep perforation, every texture a product of the making process rather than applied finish. It displays well rested on a surface or shelf without requiring fixings.
In Japanese folklore, crustaceans carry associations with the spirit world and the deep, their armoured forms appearing in various yokai traditions as creatures of threshold spaces between the living world and whatever lies beyond. This piece sits closer to an effigy than a mask, a ritual object from an imagined tradition.
An original handmade clay sculpture, one of a kind.
Material: Air-dry clay, sealed with grey mineral surface finish Care: Keep dry. Avoid direct sunlight and temperature extremes. Decorative only.
