Indian Mukha or Face Lingam / Cover

A golden head with a handlebar mustache and a tall, tiered crown topped with a finial.

This mukha or face lingam cover is from Karnataka, South India, and dates to the 18th century. It is brass. A mukha lingam is a form of the Shiva lingam bearing the face or faces of the god, and it is found in South Indian worship. A cast head with wide, rounded eyes, a third mark on the forehead, and a sweeping mustache. A layered headdress rises to a small pointed knob. The surface is polished in places and darkened in the creases. It is 2 inches wide, 1.75 deep and 4 high.

Dignified from the neck up, and entirely from the neck up.