Today's "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng'en dates 1500-1582 and well within the time period that we study in the Society. There is a certain man in my life that fancies himself a disciple of The Monkey King and has read the tales and studied the time period. Some time ago, I painted his fencing mask based on a Chinese opera mask of The Monkey King. I will admit that I have not done a ton of research, however, there is enough information that supports making such as mask, as there were masked operas as early as the 4th century in China and that one was even done to honor a general who went into battle wearing a mask. Seems very, very appropriate for Ogedei. So I found some representations on the web. It is not easy to find actual historical opera masks, there are plenty of modern ones, but there were enough that would give me an idea to run with. Some acrylic paint later, and the picture to the left and below.
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