Vintage Guatemalan Horse Mask

Artist: Aj Canil Family

Origin: Chichicastenango, Guatemala

Material: Hand-carved wood, natural & acrylic paints

This hand-carved horse mask, painted in radiant tones of crimson, cobalt, and ochre, embodies a powerful convergence of colonial history and indigenous ritual. The horse—an animal unknown to the Americas before the Spanish conquest—became both a symbol of domination and an enduring figure within postcolonial ceremonial life. In Guatemalan festival tradition, masks like this one represent more than mere animals: they carry layered stories of transformation, survival, and adaptation.

With flared nostrils, forward ears, and a painted hide marked by rhythmic, symbolic motifs, this piece evokes the strength and velocity of the stallion, while honoring the resilience of the communities who absorbed and recontextualized its image. Today, it stands not just as a ceremonial artifact, but as a testament to cultural endurance.

Details:

• Singular piece — no reproductions

• Represents the horse: a postcolonial figure adapted into indigenous ritual

• Hand-carved in the Guatemalan highlands by the Aj Canil family

• Worn in traditional dances that blend pre-Hispanic and colonial-era themes

• Ideal for collectors of layered cultural and ethnographic art