Faces Hidden in Gold – gold masks of Asia

This astonishing exhibition reveals, for the first time in the world, never-displayed-before, unequalled treasures in the form of gold masks from various parts of Asia preserved in the Zelnik Collection.

There are 24 gold and three silver masks that have come from China to Java, from the Balkans to Southeast Asia, supplemented with the museum’s own Asian and Oceanic masterpieces.
The exhibition successfully confronts both the expert and the public visitor with the virtually unexplored area of Asian gold working. However, it also shows us the many different purposes of the mask.
Some of the gold masks are death masks and some served a ritual purpose, the nature of which we can only guess at. Of one thing we can be certain though: the use of gold or other precious metals was exceptional and reserved for rulers and high ranking individuals alone. The majority of masks from Asia and Oceania were crafted from more humble materials. This is apparent from several of the objects picked from the collection of the Ethnographical Museum and several other masks that are of non-precious metal in the Zelnik Collection.